Business today

GM INCOME SLUMPS: General Motors Corp.'s profit dropped 58 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago but still narrowly beat Wall Street's expectations. GM earned $255-million, or 60 cents a share, for the last three months of 2001. That was a penny a share more than the revised forecast of 59 cents a share by analysts. The automaker also said that even though it earned nearly $1.5-billion for the year, it will make no profit-sharing payments for 2001 to hourly workers in the United States, annual incentive awards for executives or enhanced variable pay for U.S. and Canadian employees who are eligible. GM shares fell 21 cents to $49.75.

NEW CFO FOR DIGITAL LIGHTWAVE: Digital Lightwave Inc. has hired Mark E. Scott as its chief financial officer. He replaces Steve Grant, who resigned from the Clearwater company Oct. 26. The announcement came a day after Digital, a maker of testing equipment for fiber-optic networks, said it would cut an undisclosed number of jobs and outsource some of its production and manufacturing. Scott most recently served as CFO of Network Access Solutions Corp. of Herndon, Va. Before that, he was CFO at Teltronics, Inc., a Sarasota maker of telephone switching systems and software.

FEDERATED TO CLOSE FINGERHUT: Federated Department Stores Inc. said it expects to close its Fingerhut catalog business. Federated said it's unlikely a buyer will be found for Fingerhut, which Federated bought in 1999 for $1.7-billion to expand its business on the Internet. The retailer expects proceeds of $1.1-billion to $1.3-billion over the next four years from the disposal of Fingerhut's assets. Last year Fingerhut closed two call centers in Tampa, eliminating 950 positions. Separately, Federated said fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations will be about $1.80 to $1.90 a share, missing analysts' forecast of $1.92 a share. Federated's shares fell $1.13 to $40.74 during regular trading.

ARISON LOSES APPEAL: Billionaire Micky Arison has lost an appeal over the final debts owed after the dust settled in the Pan Am airline bankruptcy. Arison, generic drug millionaire Phillip Frost and former ambassador Charles Cobb were among those who offered money to keep Pan Am flying, but they also tried to protect their pocketbooks. The others promised to pay Arison, chairman of Carnival Corp., if he had to cover some Pan Am debt under a complicated series of repayment agreements and letters of credit. But the 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled that they weren't required to pay Arison after he paid $5.4-million to NationsBank, the airline's primary lender, when he was not obliged to do so.

AIRTRAN OFFERS NEW SERVICE: AirTran Airways will begin flights between Tampa International Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport on March 14. The airline, headquartered in Orlando, will make one morning and one afternoon round-trip flight daily. Advance-purchase fares begin at $93 each way, with walk-up fares starting at $158 one-way.

GATES EMPHASIZES SECURITY: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates revealed a strategy shift across all its products, including its flagship Windows software, to emphasize security and privacy over new capabilities. In e-mail to employees obtained by the Associated Press, Gates referred to the new philosophy as "Trustworthy Computing" and called it the "highest priority" to ensure computer users continue to venture across an increasingly Internet-connected world.

Correction

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Charles F. Morgan and Morgan Financial with securities fraud by obtaining $2.4-million in investor funds through misrepresentation. Morgan settled the charges without admitting or denying them. A brief report Saturday mischaracterized the charges.

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