Consumer Confidential: BofA layoffs, wiener war cease-fire

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Here’s your frosted-flakes Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--And the Bad Timing Award goes to Bank of America, which, a day after President Obama called for more job creation, is reportedly on the verge of laying off about 40,000 workers. The Wall Street Journal says officials at the bank have discussed cutting as much as 14% of the company’s workforce. BofA has already cut at least 6,000 jobs this year as part of its reorganization under CEO Brian Moynihan, who has been in the top spot since last year. Moynihan earlier this week unveiled a shakeup in the bank’s management ranks. BofA, still struggling under the weight of toxic mortgage loans, says the moves are part of ‘delayering and simplifying’ operations. It has more employees than most of its major competitors, and top executives have stressed the need to eliminate redundancies resulting from past acquisitions.

--The wiener war is over. A two-year battle pitted Sara Lee’s Ball Park and Kraft Foods’ Oscar Mayer hot dogs. The companies, America’s largest hot dog makers, both alleged that the other exaggerated claims about being No. 1. The two Chicago-area food giants announced that they have settled out of court -- less than a month after their civil trial began. The terms of their frankfurter cease-fire are confidential, though a Sara Lee spokesman says neither side paid money to the other, and that neither is changing its marketing practices. So it’ll be up to us to decide which wiener is top dog.

-- David Lazarus