Lockheed will test missile-interceptor system again today
Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense contractor, will test its missile-interceptor system today after six consecutive failures, the last of which cost the Bethesda-based company a $15 million penalty.
The Theater High-Altitude Area Air Defense System, or Thaad, missile being tested at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., is part of a $4 billion Pentagon program that could rise to $13 billion.
The system is designed to destroy short-range ballistic missiles, such as the Scuds Iraq used in the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
Bell Atlantic asks Mass. for OK on long-distance bid
Bell Atlantic Corp., the largest U.S. local telephone company, asked Massachusetts regulators for permission to offer long-distance services, beginning the process for approval in the second of 13 states, including Maryland, where it operates.
Regulators must approve the application before Bell Atlantic can apply to the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Communications Commission. The company expects to forward its New York application to federal regulators next month and to have final approval by fall.
Newport News Shipbuilding, United Steelworkers meet
Negotiators for Newport News Shipbuilding, the nation's only builder of aircraft carriers, and the United Steelworkers met yesterday for the first time since before the union, which represents 9,200 hourly workers at the yard, went on strike seven weeks ago.
Spokesmen for each side said they hoped the meeting arranged by federal mediators would lead to a contract agreement and the end of the strike.
But shipyard spokesman Mike Hatfield would not say whether the yard was willing to budge from what it called its final contract offer, which it delivered during the last talks, on March 30, five days before the strike began.
Texas Instruments to get $1 billion from Hyundai settlement
Texas Instruments Inc., the world's biggest maker of semiconductors for cellular phones, said it will get $1 billion over 10 years in a cross-licensing agreement with Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. that settles all patent litigation between the chip makers.
The Dallas company will receive royalty payments from sales of Hyundai integrated circuits retroactively from 1997 through 2007. The payments will add about 12 cents a share to its second-quarter earnings.
In March, a federal jury ordered Hyundai, one of South Korea's three biggest electronics makers, to pay $25.2 million for infringing on two patents in one of several suits between the companies.
Barnesandnoble.com raises $450 million in stock sale
Barnesandnoble.com Inc., the online bookseller owned by Barnes & Noble Inc. and Bertelsmann AG, raised $450 million in an initial stock sale yesterday that tapped into investors' belief that the company will challenge Amazon.com Inc.
The New York-based company sold 25 million shares at $18 each, at the top of the $16-to-$18 range set by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co., which handled the transaction. The sale represented an 18 percent stake and gave the company a market value of $2.52 billion.
IBM seeks to save money, is selling leased computers
International Business Machines Corp., the world's No. 1 computer maker, is selling its leased computers and related equipment in a plan to save $400 million to $500 million in the next four years.
The returned computers are either sold as used equipment or dismantled for spare parts in the worldwide program begun in November. The Armonk, N.Y.-based company will save more than $150 million of the total in the next 12 months, Joseph Lane, general manager of IBM Global Financing, said yesterday. IBM's computer-leasing operation generated $3.77 billion in revenue last year, but Chairman Louis Gerstner is looking for ways to save money. The company expects to save $340 million this year by using the Internet to reach buyers and cut costs.
Kaiser plans new talks with striking workers
Kaiser Aluminum Corp., locked in a dispute with 3,000 union workers who walked off the job eight months ago, returns to the bargaining table this week -- this time with the upper hand, analysts said.
Neither side expects a settlement this week. The union said it is submitting a new contract proposal, which will take time for the company to review.
Kaiser, the No. 3 U.S. aluminum producer, said some parts of its smelters and mills have boosted efficiency since the Sept. 30 walkout at five plants, detracting from the urgency of a settlement.
McKesson HBOC fighting lawsuits, fraud accusations
McKesson HBOC Inc. is fighting a barrage of lawsuits, allegations of financial fraud and questions from federal regulators.
McKesson, the nation's largest drug wholesaler, said April 28 that a year-end audit found $42 million in sales improperly recorded by HBOC, a health care software company in Atlanta that McKesson bought in January, and that the mess would force it to restate earnings for the past four quarters.
McKesson's shares plunged 50 percent to $35, and within hours the Fortune 100 company had lost $9 billion in stock market value -- one of the most devastating one-day losses for a company in Wall Street history. Since then, dozens of shareholders have filed lawsuits in federal courts in San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., claiming reckless manipulation of McKesson's finances.
MedPartners plans sale of five Calif. groups
MedPartners Inc. signed definitive agreements to sell five groups in its California physician management system, the first such deals in a plan to sell its ailing subsidiary in the state, the company said yesterday.
The five units represent about 13 percent of MedPartners Provider Network Inc., the subsidiary that manages business affairs for 117 clinics and more than 1,000 doctors in California.
The deals must be approved by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge. The names of buyers and financial terms were withheld pending final approvals.
Oil and gas industry lags in Y2K plans, report says
The oil and gas industry, with its dependence on computers, has too many question marks about its plans to deal with Year 2000 computer problems, a congressional report concludes.
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said individual companies are confronting possible problems, but no national-level approach has emerged to deal with shortages or disruptions in the nation's oil and gas supplies.
Citing an industry survey taken in February, the GAO said more than a quarter of the industry does not expect to be Y2K ready until the second half of 1999, "leaving little time for resolving unexpected problems."
Linux system to be bundled with IBM database software
Veering ever further into the mainstream, the Linux operating system will now be bundled with IBM's best-selling database software for computer servers.
The deal with Pacific HiTech, one of many upstart companies selling juiced-up versions of the free Linux software code, is to be announced today.
As part of the agreement, IBM will provide 24-hour telephone support for customers who buy its DB2 Universal Database software along with Pacific HiTech's TurboLinux.
N.Y., British law firms have decided to merge
The leaders of the New York-based law firm Rogers & Wells have decided to merge with one of Britain's biggest and most prestigious firms, Clifford Chance.
The executive committees of the two firms voted separately late Friday to submit proposals for a merger to their partners, a senior attorney at one of the firms said yesterday.
Pub Date: 5/25/99