Business news in brief
By The Associated Press
McDonald’s investing $100M to bring customers back
McDonald’s is investing $100 million to bring customers back to stores after an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning tied to onions on the fast-food giant’s Quarter Pounder hamburgers. The investments include $65 million that will go directly to the hardest-hit franchises.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that slivered onions on the Quarter Pounders were the likely source of the outbreak.
Colorado reported at least 30 cases; Montana reported 19; Nebraska, 13; and New Mexico, 10. Illnesses were reported between Sept. 12 and Oct. 21. At least 104 people got sick and 34 were hospitalized.
Boeing layoffs so far total nearly 2,200 workers in Washington state
SEATTLE | Boeing said in a notice filed with Washington’s Employment Security Department on Monday that it has so far laid off 2,199 workers in the state, among job cuts that will eventually total about 17,000 across the company.
The aerospace giant announced in October that it planned to cut about 10% of its workforce in the coming months as it struggles to recover from financial and regulatory troubles as well as a strike by its machinists that lasted nearly two months.
The planned cuts include workers at Boeing facilities across the country, from Washington to Missouri to Arizona to South Carolina, The Seattle Times reported. They also appeared to impact workers in all three of Boeing’s divisions: commercial airplanes, defense and global services.
Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy
Spirit Airlines said Monday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection and will attempt to reboot as it struggles to recover from the pandemic-caused swoon in travel, stiffer competition from bigger carriers, and a failed attempt to sell the airline to JetBlue.
Spirit, the biggest U.S. budget airline, filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition after working out terms with bondholders. The airline has lost more than $2.5 billion since the start of 2020 and faces looming debt payments totaling more than $1 billion in 2025 and 2026.
The airline said it expects to continue operating normally during the bankruptcy process. Spirit told customers Monday they can book flights and use frequent-flyer points as they ordinarily would, and said employees and vendors would continue getting paid.
—From AP reports
