Business briefs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Steel products maker Nucor Corp. said Tuesday it has offered $1.07 billion for Canada’s Harris Steel Group Inc. whose board is recommending that its shareholders accept the all-cash bid. Nucor, which makes steel from recycled metal at its "minimill” operations across the United States, said the deal would broaden its geographic reach and give it opportunities to grow.

Nucor is offering 46.25 Canadian dollars ($39.69) for each Harris Steel share, a 6 percent premium over Harris’ closing price of 43.49 Canadian dollars ($37.32) Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The offer values Harris’s stock at 1.25 billion Canadian dollars ($1.07 billion), according to Nucor. Harris also had 123 million Canadian dollars ($105.5 million) in debt at the end of September.

The tender offer will be open for at least 35 days and has the support of the boards of both companies, the news release said.

Homebuilder expects big loss

MIAMI — Lennar Corp., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, said Tuesday it expected a fourth-quarter loss as the company reevaluates how much its inventory is worth amid a slowing industry.

The Miami-based company expects a loss within a range of 88 cents per share to $1.28 for its quarter ended Nov. 30 after a pretax charge of up to $500 million for the inventory evaluation. Official earnings for the quarter will be released before the market opens on Jan. 17.

Before the valuation adjustments and write-offs, the company expects its fourth-quarter earnings to be within a range of 70 cents to 75 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected an average of $1.07 per share. The company predicted a range of $1 to $1.30 a share when it announced third-quarter results on Sept. 26.

Goodyear employees return to work

CLEVELAND — Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. workers returned Tuesday after a three-month strike, with the world’s third-largest tire maker saying it could be weeks before full production resumes.

"Production at the affected tire and engineered products plants will ramp up over the next few weeks,” the Akron-based company said in a statement marking the return. "Full supply of Goodyear products is expected to be available soon thereafter.”

Jack Hefner, vice president of Steelworkers Local 2 in Akron, said Tuesday that workers were happy to be back.

But there was tension at the Sun Prairie, Wis., plant where some workers said managers smiled and waved their paychecks at the picket lines.

Jon Rich, president of Goodyear’s North American Tire business, said the company welcomed the end of the walkout.

Workers at 12 plants in 10 states ended their strike Friday by approving a three-year agreement covering 14,000 employees that includes plans to close the Tyler, Texas, tire factory and creates a $1 billion health care fund for retirees. The contract was approved by all 12 locals and the overall membership by a 2-to-1 ratio.

Wall Street Journal unveils new, narrower design

NEW YORK — The Wall Street Journal introduced a smaller, re-designed format on Tuesday that publisher Dow Jones & Co. hopes will save money and help make the paper more appealing to a wider base of readers, especially younger ones.

Dow Jones says the narrower width, which reduced the size of the paper by about one column, or three inches, will save about $18 million a year. Moving to a more standard format used by other newspapers will also allow the Journal to be printed in more places.

The new design leaves about 10 percent less space for news stories, but half of that loss is being made up by cutting back on the amount of stock tables and other statistical data in the paper. Along with the changes in the print version unveiled Tuesday the Journal also launched a more robust online feature for tracking financial markets, www.WSJMarkets.com.

As part of a promotional campaign, the Journal is making about half a million copies of the paper free on newsstands on Tuesday and opening up its Web site, WSJ.com, to non-subscribers for the day. Many of the changes are aimed at bringing in younger readers with an easier-to-read presentation of news.

"Readers told us that the Journal could better tailor its efforts to how, when and where you access news,” Gordon Crovitz, the Journal’s publisher, said in a letter to readers.

As for the reduced size, Crovitz said, "the almost unanimous reaction among readers in focus groups was that this would make the newspaper more convenient and literally handier.”

Segways banned

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Dutch police banned Segways from all public roads, bike paths and walkways as of New Year’s Day, surprising the nation’s official importer of the two-wheeled, self-balancing scooters.

Segway Nederland director Piet Kruijt said Tuesday the company was "completely ambushed” by the decision, first announced by national police on Nov. 27, 2006.

Police said that with no approval of the vehicles in sight by the country’s Royal Traffic Agency, they could not be allowed to continue using public streets.

The Segway "is a motorized vehicle, and according to Dutch law, a mo-ped,” a police statement said.

But because the Traffic Agency hasn’t approved the vehicle, the police statement said, it can’t be issued license plates.