BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

200 jobs being cut from Mattel ranks

EL SEGUNDO - Toy maker Mattel Inc. said Thursday it is cutting more than 200 jobs in the first quarter of this year, continuing a consolidation of its business that began last fall.

The jobs will largely be cut from the company's headquarters in El Segundo and represent about 1 percent of Mattel's worldwide staff, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The cuts will be made through a combination of layoffs, attrition, retirements and elimination of open positions.

The company said it expects to recognize $10 million to $13 million in expenses during the first quarter as a result of the job cuts.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, has been struggling amid declining sales of its flagship fashion doll, Barbie, and other toys. On Monday, it reported a 2 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit.

In October, the company announced it was consolidating its Mattel Brands and Fisher-Price Brands into one division called Mattel Brands. The move coincided with the exit of Matthew Bousquette, the executive who had been in charge of overseeing Mattel's core brands, including Barbie.

Disney, Pixar OK 2007 backup plan

BURBANK - The Walt Disney Co. and Pixar Animation Studios have agreed to extend their current distribution agreement to include Pixar's 2007 release ``Ratatouille,'' a deal that will be moot if Disney's proposed acquisition of Pixar closes this summer as expected.

The two companies negotiated what amounts to a one-picture extension as a fail-safe measure in case the acquisition doesn't happen.

``This is a deal that Disney and Pixar negotiated independent of the proposed merger to handle the distribution of 'Ratatouille' until such time as the transaction closes,'' said a written statement Thursday from Pixar.

Pixar would finance 100 percent of the production costs of ``Ratatouille'' and pay Disney a straight distribution fee under the new deal, according to a regulatory filing. Pixar would also own the film.

The extension differs from the current arrangement in which Disney and Pixar share ownership of the copyright and split the production costs and the profits.

Mortgage rates tick up this week

WASHINGTON - Mortgage rates around the country went up this week, with rates on 30-year mortgages climbing to their highest point since late December.

Mortgage company Freddie Mac, in its weekly nationwide survey released Thursday, reported that rates on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 6.23 percent for the week that ended Feb. 2. That was up from 6.12 percent the previous week and was the highest rate since the week that ended Dec. 22.

Meanwhile, rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing a home mortgage, averaged 5.81 percent in the week that ended Thursday, up from 5.70 percent, while one-year adjustable-rate mortgages increased to 5.33 percent, up from 5.20 percent.

Costs rise faster than productivity

WASHINGTON - The efficiency of U.S. workers increased in 2005 at the slowest rate since the recession year of 2001, while an important gauge of wage pressures rose at the fastest pace in five years, the government reported Thursday.

The Labor Department said productivity rose by 2.7 percent last year while labor costs rose by 2.4 percent, the biggest jump since a 4.2 percent increase in 2000. For just the final three months of the year, productivity actually fell by 0.6 percent, the first decline since early 2001, and labor costs rose by 3.5 percent.

Quarter a downer for Electronic Arts

SAN JOSE - Electronic Arts Inc., the world's largest video-game publisher, said it earned $259 million, or 83 cents per share, for its third quarter, which ended Dec. 31.

That marked a 31 percent drop from the year-ago period, when the company posted a profit of $375 million, or $1.18 per share. The announcement came a day after the company laid off several hundred workers.

Revenue fell to $1.27 billion, down 11 percent from $1.43 billion in the prior year.

Excluding certain items, the Redwood City, Calif.-based company said it would have earned $268 million, or 86 cents per share, compared with $391 million, or $1.23 per share, a year earlier. On that basis, the company significantly missed already downgraded expectations.