Kennametal stops search for HQPITTSBURGH — Kennametal is putting off its search for a long-term world headquarters in Pittsburgh amid tough times for the company and the steel industry.The firm said Wednesday that it was postponing the move due to the challenging industrial market.Kennametal has laid off 1,000 workers worldwide and its stock price has dropped significantly as demand for steel-cutting technology has waned.Mayor Bill Peduto’s chief of staff, Kevin Acklin, said the company informed the city this week of its decision to suspend a search for a new headquarters.Kennametal relocated its headquarters from Unity to the U.S. Steel Tower in Pittsburgh last year and has been in negotiations to make the city its home.

Uber testing self-driving carsPITTSBURGH — Uber Technologies is planning to expand its Pittsburgh operations by testing self-driving cars at a former mill site in the city, the ride-sharing company said.Uber plans to renovate an old locomotive roundhouse at the former LTV coke works site, which would be home to temporary test roadways for self-driving cars, company officials announced Tuesday during a community meeting.Officials plan to break ground in the next few months on another research facility at the 178-acre site known as the Almono, the company said. Uber was the first tenant for the former mill site, which was bought by Regional Industrial Development Corp. and four foundations 14 years ago. The organizations have committed nearly $60 million to preparing the site for development.The San Francisco-based company plans to start work at the site in about four to six months and would employ more than 20 people, an official said.

Sharp agrees to takeoverTOKYO — Sharp Corp. agreed today to a $4.4 billion takeover by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as Foxconn, becoming the first major Japanese electronics maker to be acquired by a foreign company.Under the agreement, Foxconn will gain a 66 percent stake in the company. Sharp was considering both Foxconn’s bid and an offer from a Japanese government-backed consortium of Japanese investors.Despite Japan’s rapid globalization, some have expressed fears a Foxconn takeover will result in the country losing technology to foreign interests.Foxconn is a major contractor to Apple, assembling products such as iPhones.Osaka-based Sharp has long been a prized brand in Japan, beginning with its sale of mechanical pencils, still known as “sharp pencils” here. It also pioneered hand-held electronic devices.Sharp had its beginnings as a Tokyo-based metalworking shop in 1912. It later made its fame with Aquos flat-panel TVs and nifty Internet-connecting cellphones, long before the arrival of iPhones in Japan. But its finances deteriorated in recent years as prices of LCD panels dropped, and it could not beat competition from Asian rivals.