Business news briefs | The Salt Lake Tribune

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Sky Lodge to open

new restaurants

The Sky Lodge, a resort on Park City's historic Main Street, plans to introduce two new dining options to guests and visitors. Table One is a higher-end dining offering while Tavern, an artisan bar, will offer British-inspired fare "married with the latest American culinary trends. Tavern will open Dec. 18. Table One will follow on Dec. 20. Reservations are not accepted at Tavern but are recommended for Table One.

Cafe Rio adds

Utah location

Cafe Rio Mexican Grill has opened its 24th Utah location. The new restaurant is in Herriman at 5506 W. 13400 South. To mark the event, Cafe Rio is donating a $2,500 check to the Jordan Education Foundation, which helps students in Jordan School District.

Avon to cut 1,500

jobs, restructure

Avon Products plans to cut about 1,500 jobs — about 4 percent of its workforce — and exit two Asian markets as the struggling beauty products seller starts on a broad restructuring plan. Avon said the job cuts span all regions and functions. The cuts include 100 employees in Vietnam and South Korea, which Avon will exit entirely.

Small business sales

rise despite Sandy

Spending by holiday shoppers trumped Superstorm Sandy's impact on small businesses in November. A report from MasterCard Advisors and Wells Fargo shows that shoppers spent 5.2 percent more at small retailers in November than they did last year. Total U.S. retail sales increased 4.5 percent for the same period.

Buffett buys back

Berkshire shares

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway spent $1.2 billion to purchase 9,200 Class A shares from the estate of a longtime shareholder. Berkshire's board authorized Buffett to repurchase shares anytime they are trading for less than 120 percent of book value. Previously, the limit was 110 percent. Analysts say the new buyback program will keep the stock price from falling below 120 percent of book value because the company will buy shares whenever they become that cheap.

OPEC keeps

output target

OPEC ministers agreed to keep their daily crude production target of 30 million barrels a day unchanged. OPEC is predicting less demand for its oil next year, in part because of continuing weak economic growth in consuming countries.

Lawmakers want

miners to pay up

Two Democratic lawmakers are hoping public concerns over the economy will reinvigorate a movement on Capitol Hill to reform the General Mining Act of 1872, which exempts mining companies from paying royalties for profiting from public lands. The U.S. government reaps billions in royalties each year from fossil fuels extracted from federal lands, but it does not collect any from gold, uranium or other metal mines.