Business Briefing

Wells execs get stock bonuses

Wells Fargo & Co.’s four top executives won’t get cash bonuses for 2009 but are receiving performance-based stock awards worth a combined $25 million that are designed to keep them from being lured away by rival banks.

Wells Fargo announced the compensation moves a week after saying it had repaid $25 billion it received under a government financial rescue program that imposes restrictions on executive pay.

The so-called retention shares would be forfeited if Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf or three other high-ranking executives leave the San Francisco bank for a competitor. They vest after three years if the nation’s fourth-largest bank meets certain performance goals.

AIG changes pay method for execs

American International Group Inc. will use stock units instead of common stock in paying executives for 2009 to comply with pay rules for companies that took federal bailouts, AIG said in a regulatory filing.

Companies like AIG that hold government bailout funds are subject to limits on executive pay. The New York insurer said late last year that it had cut the salaries of three top executives to comply with the rules. But it plans to go ahead with a $7-million pay package for Chief Executive Robert Benmosche, who became CEO in August. He will get an annual salary of $3 million plus $4 million in AIG common stock.

LABOR

Minimum wage falls in Colorado

Colorado’s minimum wage will drop slightly in the new year -- the first decrease in any state’s minimum wage since the federal minimum was adopted in 1938.

Colorado’s wage is falling 3 cents an hour, from $7.28 to the federal level of $7.25. That’s because Colorado is one of 10 states that tie the state minimum wage to inflation.

AUTOS

GM is said to extend Saab talks

General Motors Co. will extend the deadline for talks on its Saab unit until Jan. 7, giving Dutch firm Spyker Cars more time to come up with financing to buy the Swedish brand, a GM official briefed on the matter said.

GM is willing to review bids until Jan. 7, when it begins the legal process of closing the business by notifying governments and cutting off supplier contracts, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private. The new deadline coincides with a Saab board meeting, a Saab official said.

TRUCKING

YRC completes debt-swap deal

YRC Worldwide Inc., one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, said it had cleared a crucial hurdle in its effort to avoid filing for bankruptcy protection by completing a debt-for-equity exchange with its bondholders.

Bill Zollars, YRC’s chairman and chief executive, called the successful exchange of notes “a major turning point” for the firm, which operates trucks under the Yellow, Roadway and New Penn brands.

AIRLINES

Delta, Northwest to be one carrier

Delta Air Lines Inc. has received government permission to operate its namesake service and its Northwest Airlines subsidiary as a single carrier, a Delta executive said.

The single operating certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration allows Delta to put its code on Northwest flights and phase out the Northwest name.

-- times wire reports