BUSINESS BRIEFS

Whole Foods

US antitrust regula tors battling with Whole Foods Market over its 2007 acquisi tion of former rival Wild Oats asked a judge to halt all integra tion activities. The FTC also said that if the court ruled that the agency had a strong case against Whole Foods, the government would also seek to re brand the acquired stores with their for mer Wild Oats signs and create an indepen dent management team to supervise them.

Christie’s cuts

Christie’s International will cut jobs as the finan cial crisis damps demand for art. The London- based auction house plans “a company-wide reorganization which in cludes significant staff re ductions,” Christie’s said in an e-mailed statement.

Dell deal

Dell will pay $3.85 million to settle allega tions that it misled con sumers about financing terms, warranties and rebates. The payments will resolve claims by 45 states.

Fed exit

Federal Reserve Gov ernor Randall Kroszner resigned effective Jan. 21. Kroszner, 46, will return to teach at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Busi ness, he said in a resig nation letter.

Seagate

Seagate Technology, the biggest maker of hard-disk drives, re placed CEO William Watkins and plans to cut 10 percent of its US workforce as sales and profit drop amid the re cession.