Business Briefs

Feds seize 3 banks; total stands at 106

WASHINGTON -- Regulators shut two banks in Florida and one in Georgia on Friday, lifting to 106 the number of U.S. banks to fail this year as the industry has struggled to cope with mounting loan defaults and recession.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said it took over the banks: Bayside Savings Bank in Port St. Joe, Fla., with $66.1 million in assets; Coastal Community Bank, based in Panama City, Fla., with $372.9 million in assets; and NorthWest Bank and Trust, based in Acworth, Ga., with assets of $167.7 million.

Centennial Bank, based in Conway, Ark., agreed to assume the assets and deposits of Bayside Savings Bank and Coastal Community Bank. State Bank and Trust Co., based in Macon, Ga., is assuming those of NorthWest Bank and Trust.

Chrysler to expand plant by 900 jobs

DETROIT -- Chrysler Group LLC said Friday that it will add nearly 900 jobs at a factory in suburban Detroit and spare it from a planned closure. The decision is a show of optimism that consumers will embrace the company's refurbished midsize sedans.

The automaker made the announcement at another Detroit-area plant just before President Barack Obama spoke there about the success of the government-funded auto industry bailout. The jobs will staff a second shift at Chrysler's assembly plant in Sterling Heights, Mich., just north of Detroit, which makes the slow-selling Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Sebring midsize sedans.

Disney selling Miramax film unit

NEW YORK -- The Walt Disney Co. is selling Miramax Films to a group of investors for $660 million, marking a new phase for a studio that helped launch the career of Quentin Tarantino and push independent movies into the mainstream.

The deal announced Friday ends speculation that founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who lent the names of their parents, Miriam and Max, to the company, could regain control of the studio they launched more than three decades ago. With ownership of the studio passes the rights to a long catalog of Oscar winners, including "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), "Chicago" (2002) and "No Country for Old Men" (2007).

Chevron 's bottom line gets big boost

NEW YORK -- Chevron's second-quarter earnings tripled on better refining margins and higher prices for oil and natural gas, the company said Friday. The San Ramon, Calif., company is the latest oil major to report big gains in the second quarter as demand for oil and gasoline has pushed prices higher.

Merck's net profit drops 52% for 2Q

NEW YORK -- Drugmaker Merck & Co. on Friday reported a 52 percent drop in second-quarter net income, weighed down by big restructuring charges from buying Schering-Plough Corp., generic competition and other factors.

Merck, the world's second-biggest drug company by revenue, beat analysts' profit expectations by 3 cents a share but came up short on revenue and slightly reduced its sales forecast for the year.

The maker of allergy medicines Singulair and Nasonex and cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia said its net income was $752.4 million.