Recall causes six-month earning plummet for Bridgestone

TOKYO (Aug. 25)—Saddled by the rising costs of its Firestone light truck tire recall, Bridgestone Corp. reported a 48.5-percent drop in net earnings for the first six months of fiscal 2000. The drop in income, to $177 million, was due almost entirely to a $350 million extraordinary charge the company said in early August it would take against earnings to cover the recall costs. Sales slid 4.8 percent to $9.27 billion, primarily because of the strong yen, Bridgestone said; sales in the U.S. and Europe were up in their own respective currencies, although sales in Japan were down. Bridgestone´s share price, which has tumbled more than 35 percent in the two-and-a-half weeks since the recall began, closed up slightly on Friday, according to news wire reports from Tokyo.