Business Briefs

Those inseparable lunchbox partners, peanut butter and jelly, are getting hitched in a $1 billion corporate marriage. The J.M. Smucker Co., which makes a wide variety of jams, jellies and other foods, is acquiring the Jif peanut butter and Crisco cooking oil brands from Procter & Gamble Co. for $1 billion in stock. Investors found it a tasty combination, pushing both stocks higher. The deal also will include the Jif and Crisco manufacturing plants in Lexington, Ky., and Cincinnati. Smucker management said it plans to retain all employees at those plants. Smucker, based in Orrville, Ohio, said the deal will eventually almost triple its annual earnings and double annual sales to $1.3 billion.

Home Corp.

At Home Corp., the largest provider of fast Internet service, said the company stopped adding customers to save money following its filing for bankruptcy-protection less than two weeks ago. The company, which does business as Excite At Home, stopped accepting new customers at 3 p.m. Wednesday for the Internet service it provides over cable-television lines. Redwood City, Calif.-based At Home has 3.7 million customers. The decision means cable operators including AT&T Corp. can't add new customers.

LTV Corp.

LTV Corp., operating under bankruptcy court protection from creditors, is selling the assets of its steel mining division for $25 million, the nation's third-largest steelmaker said Wednesday. Iron ore supplier Cleveland Cliffs Inc. and Minnesota Power each will pay $12.5 million for LTV Steel Mining Co. and assume environmental and other liabilities. Cleveland Cliffs, based in Cleveland, will purchase the assets of LTV's iron mine, processing plant, 74-mile rail line and loading dock in Hoyt Lakes, Minn.

Goodwill Industries of Pittsburgh

Four Pittsburgh-area businesses have been selected as winners of the Power of Work Awards sponsored by Goodwill Industries of Pittsburgh. The four are: Bayer Corp., Pittsburgh Marriott City Center, Sweetwater Personnel and UPMC Health System. The awards honor companies that help people with special needs overcome employment barriers, including people with disabilities and participants in welfare-to-work programs. The four winners were selected from 54 nominees and will be honored on Oct. 25.

Polaroid Corp.

Trading in shares of instant image company Polaroid Corp. was halted Wednesday following a report that a filing for federal bankruptcy protection was imminent. Such a filing, which would protect the company from creditors as it tries to restructure, is widely expected by analysts and investors. The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that a Chapter 11 filing could come soon.

Marconi Plc

Marconi Plc's former Chief Executive George Simpson, who quit last month after shares fell 96 percent in a year, will receive a $436,380 payout, about a third of what he was entitled to, the company said. Simpson infuriated investors in July when Marconi reversed a May forecast that sales would rise this year. Simpson left on Sept. 4, when the company cut earnings forecasts for the second time in three months.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Wednesday it plans to lay off 1,400 employees, or 5 percent of its manufacturing work force, at five U.S. plants this month because of weak tire markets. The layoffs are in addition to the 8,000 layoffs the Akron-based company announced earlier.

American Iron and Steel Institute

U.S. raw steel production fell 0.3 percent last week to 1.742 million tons from 1.748 million tons a week earlier, the American Iron and Steel Institute said. Compared with a year earlier, raw steel production declined 15.3 percent.

The Bloomberg Pittsburgh Index

Pittsburgh-area stocks rose on Wednesday. The Bloomberg Pittsburgh Index, a price weighted list of companies with operations in the region, gained 3.34 to 167.17.

From staff reports, The Associated Press, Dow Jones, Knight-Ridder, Reuters and Bloomberg News.