Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will see his majority stake in struggling cable operator Charter Communications Inc. wiped out in a pre-arranged bankruptcy, but a deal with his debt holders will give him a 35% voting control in the newly reorganized company.

The chairman of St. Louis-based Charter also will get the right to nominate at least 35% of the board, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday.

On Thursday, Charter disclosed that it expected to file for bankruptcy by April 1 and get relief from creditors. Holders of $8 billion of debt agreed to swap their debt for nearly complete ownership in the new company, and certain old debt was exchanged for new debt.

RETAIL

Abercrombie profit falls 68%

Abercrombie & Fitch Co., which resisted the steep discounts its competitors offered during the holiday season, reported that profit in the fourth quarter slid 68% as sales dived.

Chief Executive Mike Jeffries repeated that Abercrombie would not offer deals at the same level as its competitors.

For the quarter ended Jan. 31, the New Albany, Ohio, retailer earned $68.4 million, or 78 cents a share, down from $216.8 million, or $2.40, a year earlier. Excluding impairment charges and a tax expense, net income was $1.10 a share, beating analyst expectations by a dime.

Sales fell 19% to $998 million from $1.29 billion. Same-store sales, or sales in stores open at least a year, fell 25%.

COURTS

Circuit City can auction its stores

Circuit City Stores Inc. received court approval to auction leases or to break them for its remaining properties, including 567 U.S. stores.

The Richmond, Va.-based company announced in January that it would liquidate and cut more than 34,000 jobs after it failed to find a buyer for what was the nation's second-largest consumer electronics retailer.

AUTOMOBILES

Toyota acts to trim expenses

Toyota Motor Corp., the world's largest automaker, will freeze wages and offer voluntary buyouts to plant workers in North America for the first time to combat an industrywide sales slide.

The buyout offers 10 weeks' pay plus two weeks' pay for every year of service and a $20,000 lump-sum payment.

The Japanese company had announced Thursday that it would cut executive pay, eliminate bonuses and reduce work hours at some plants.

Toyota recently forecast its first operating loss in 71 years.

INVESTING

Citadel to allow withdrawals

Citadel Investment Group, the $13-billion hedge-fund firm run by Kenneth Griffin, will allow clients to make withdrawals from its two largest funds after freezing them last year.

Chicago-based Citadel will decide each quarter whether to make payments from its Wellington and Kensington funds, Griffin said in an investor letter. Clients will be notified of any amounts available for redemption.

Citi overstated Euro fund values

Citigroup Inc. told U.S. clients of four European property funds that a currency-conversion error caused it to overstate the value of their investments at the end of 2008 by about 29%.

An "operational error" overvalued the euro-denominated funds' returns to clients with dollar-denominated accounts, New York-based Citigroup said in a letter to investors.

The account values were to be corrected this month.

-- times wire reports