Toyota, Kimberly-Clark, Cowboys real estate, Amazon: Tuesday's Business Briefing

Your lunchtime look at D-FW business [Your lunchtime look at D-FW business] January 23,  2018 🔎 Prefer the online view? It's [here](. Follow us on Twitter [@DMNBiz](. Toyota CEO Jim Lentz talks with the crowd at the grand opening ceremony of the Toyota headquarters in Plano, Texas, photographed on Thursday, July 6, 2017. (Louis DeLuca/The Dallas Morning News) The Big Story Toyota, a year old in Texas, has stayed out of state politics, but that may change North Texas' biggest corporate residents vowed to get more involved in state politics after Republican state leaders made it a top priority to try and enact laws restricting bathroom access for transgender Texans despite fierce opposition from major employers. But Toyota wasn’t one of the companies that signed on to the effort. And although Toyota executives have long touted the automaker’s inclusive ethos and focus on diversity, the company declined to stake a clear positionin the debate about the so-called bathroom bill. [Toyota, which moved its North American headquarters to Plano a year ago, is still trying to settle in according to Jim Lentz, CEO for North America operations.]( “Give us time, and we’ll be involved,” he said. “I don’t want to push too quickly and kind of be the smart Alec on the block who comes in with all their California ideas that may not be welcome.” -[Jill Cowan]( And: [What Toyota looked for in the 100,000 applications it got for 1,000 jobs in Plano]( Also: [Why the $1.6-billion Toyota-Mazda factory is going to Alabama, not Texas]( Plus: [Find more updates on what Toyota is doing in Texas and elsewhere]( SUBSCRIBE NOW [Get unlimited digital access for $2.99 per week]( The Latest - Banking: [JPMorgan Chase](to raise wages and invest in U.S. with tax cut savings. - Real estate: Mortgage lender [LoanDepot]( sees real estate agents as key in next phase of fintech. - Transportation: [Zagster](thinks it has a fix for Dallas' bike-share problem. - Philanthropy: A year after CEO’s death, [North Texas Food Bank]( donors exceed her $55 million goal. - Restaurants: [Lucia owners]( to open new restaurant in Dallas. Advertisement retail Kimberly-Clark to cut 5,000 jobs on sluggish sales partly due to fewer babies Millennials aren't having enough babies.  No pressure, but that's one of the reasons that Kimberly-Clark, maker of Kleenex, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, said has led it to slash costs by $1.5 billion over the next four years, including the elimination of 5,000 to 5,5000 jobs. [Job cuts that represent 12 to 13 percent of its workforce are across all business segments and geography, Kimberly-Clark said.]( The company operates worldwide. About half the cuts will be in North America. Job cuts will depend on the needs of the business and negotiations with unions and other labor groups, said spokesman Bob Brand. The Irving headquarters only has about 200 employees in corporate functions such as human resources and legal. The restructuring comes as the Irving-based company Tuesday posted a 22 percent increase in profit, but sales only rose 1 percent and that's not enough to grow on. -[Maria Halkias]( Plus: [Find more on the retail industry]( (Steve Brown / DMN) real estate Jerry Jones' real estate company has plans for a new project in Irving Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones' real estate company is gearing up for a major project in Irving. The same team that developed the Cowboys' huge Star in Frisco is working on the mixed-use development in Las Colinas. The almost 28-acre project is planned at the south corner of State Highways 114 and 161. [Plans filed with Irving's zoning commission say the development will include a hotel, retail space and apartments on the vacant corner.]( The development will be built by the Jones family's Blue Star Land LP and Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co., which was part of the team that built the first phase of the $1.5 billion Star in Frisco. -[Steve Brown]( And: [Dallas senior communities sell to venture with Middle East partner]( Plus: [Find more on D-FW real estate]( Elsewhere in Texas - Energy: [Plains All American](proceeding with new pipeline from Permian to Corpus Christi. (Houston Chronicle) - Retail: Austin billionaire John Paul DeJoria selling off [Patron Spirits]( in a deal valued at $5.1 billion. (Austin America-Statesman) - Real estate: [Williams]( has renewed a lease for nearly a quarter of the space in the 64-story building that bears its name. (Houston Chronicle) - Health care: [USAA employee bonus]( dips to 16.2% on costly year of catastrophes. (San Antonio Express-News) - M&A: Acquisitions help [Westlake Chemical]( strengthens position in growing vinyls market. (Houston Chronicle) The Dallas region is one of 20 finalists named for Amazon's HQ2, which is projected to have 50,000 workers and $5 billion in investment. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News) Featured Columnist: mitchell schnurman How can Dallas win Amazon HQ2? Stay unified and be audacious A regional approach may make the most sense in North Texas, but competition is usually the rule in economic development. Over a dozen local cities regularly try to woo new employers and investment, sometimes from each other. But to win HQ2, the region has to demonstrate that it can cooperate and collaborate, and that it’s not just for show. [If Amazon picks Dallas, the region may have to work together to assemble land, improve infrastructure and pull together enough incentive dollars](. Amazon will be looking for signs of our commitment to each other and to working with the company. “Across the region, you’ve got to show that you can get it together to really make this deal happen,” said Gene DePrez, a site selection expert at Global Innovation Partners in the New York area. Also: [Find more on D-FW's quest for Amazon's HQ2]( Plus: [Find more columns by Mitchell Schnurman]( Owner Thierry Plumettaz poses for a photograph at Le Caveau Vinotheque wine shop in Dallas. (Rose Baca/Staff Photographer) Who Is... Thierry Plumettaz What do you do with a formal food and beverage management education from one of the best schools in the world followed by nearly 35 years' experience working in the field? If you're Thierry Plumettaz, you open Le Caveau Vinotheque, a small wine shop in East Dallas, where you happily spend seven days a week helping customers find a wine they'll love. [Plumettaz came to Dallas in 1986]( to work as the cellar master at the Mansion on Turtle Creek and has worked for the Ritz Carlton in Houston, the Crescent Court in Dallas, the little bistro named Watel's on McKinney Avenue, and Glazer's, now called Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits. In 2006, he left Dallas for Atlanta to manage the prestigious wine portfolio of Louis Roederer Champagne. He came back to Dallas in 2013 to represent the wines from Louis Jadot, Champagne Taittinger and Domaine Zind-Humbrecht for the importer Kobrand in 2013. "I worked at every level of the wine business and always enjoyed educating consumers via wine seminars or wine dinners," he says. "I felt it was time to jump and do it full time for a neighborhood small store. The timing was perfect. The space and location is what I had envisioned." Follow DFW stocks: [See how top North Texas stocks performed](, as well as the oil and gas markets and major stock exchanges. DFW Top 100 Places to Work 2017: The Dallas Morning News and Workplace Dynamics partner each year to feature the [Top 100 workplaces](, based on ratings by the people who work at them. Advertisement 👋  That's all for today! For up-to-the-minute business news and analysis, check out [DallasNews.com/Business](. 💖 Share the love: If you like this newsletter, please forward this email to a friend and [check out our other newsletters here](. 📧 Do you have feedback on this newsletter? Send your thoughts, questions, praise and corrections to our Business Editor Paul O'Donnell at [podonnell@dallasnews.com](mailto:podonnell@dallasnews.com?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback). 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