6089: Gains And Losses.

Ups and downs with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis suspended sales of its anti-obesity drug after health officials stated the drug posed too many risks. Or maybe Sanofi-Aventis saw McDonald’s continuously escalating profits and decided, “Aw, fuck it.”

• Xerox announced plans to cut 3,000 jobs. The affected employees can expect to receive termination paperwork as soon as someone unjams the Xerox machines and gets the damned things to work.

• The New York Times announced 3Q profits dropped 51 percent. Ironically, it was not exclusively reported in The New York Times.

• Samsung reported 3Q profits dropped 44 percent. “Overall, our third-quarter earnings were impacted by the worsening market conditions resulting from the slowdown in the global economy,” said Samsung’s executive vice president. “Moreover, our DRAM, NAND and LCD businesses all faced steep price declines led by persistent oversupply in the industry.” Hey, you can never have too many DRAMs, NANDs and LCDs.