Business Today

UNIVERSAL CLOSING KONGFRONTATION: Universal Studios is closing its Kongfrontation attraction attraction next month. After Sept. 8, the soundstage that has been the giant animatronic ape's home since the park opened 12 years ago will be cleared to make way for what Universal officials describe as a "new mega-attraction" that they haven't disclosed. The six-story soundstage that houses Kongfrontation is 71,000 square feet, one of the world's largest.

NASDAQ LEAVING JAPAN: After two years of losing money, the Nasdaq Stock Market said it is pulling out of Japan and will instead strengthen its presence in Europe. Tokyo Internet company Softbank Corp. and Nasdaq each owned 43 percent of the venture, which began trading in June 2000 on the Osaka Securities Exchange. The Nasdaq brand will continue in Japan for the rest of the year.

HCA LOOKING INTO POSSIBLE KICKBACKS: HCA Inc., the nation's largest hospital chain, is investigating possible physician kickbacks at two of its six hospitals in the United Kingdom. HCA said $20,000 was paid to a referring physician in an Eastern European country. An unspecified number of employees have been suspended during the investigation. The company did not identify anyone involved in the case. Michael Neeb, an HCA executive who was acquitted of Medicare fraud during a 1999 trial in Tampa federal court, has been chief financial officer of HCA's U.K. operations. HCA has nine hospitals in the Tampa Bay area. HCA paid $840-million last year to settle criminal and civil allegations by the Justice Department that its hospitals routinely defrauded Medicare, the government health-insurance program for the elderly and disabled. HCA pleaded guilty to 14 criminal counts.

DYNEGY SELLS PIPELINE: Dynegy Inc. can put off bankruptcy fears for the time being. It closed the sale of a natural gas pipeline acquired from onetime merger partner Enron Corp. The Houston energy marketer gained $900-million in cash and dumped $950-million in debt with completion of the sale of Northern Natural Gas Co. toMidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. Dynegy wanted a quick sale of the 16,600-mile pipeline as part of a plan to raise $2-billion to strengthen finances.

CHARTER ACCOUNTING INVESTIGATED: Charter Communications says federal prosecutors are investigating the fourth-largest cable television company for how it accounts for some expenses. The company controlled by billionaire Paul Allen received a grand jury subpoena seeking documents related to how the company accounts for costs for current and disconnected cable TV subscribers. St. Louis-based Charter serves more than 6.8-million customers in 40 states.

TURNER FORFEITS LAND RIGHTS: Ted Turner agreed to give up his right to 68 acres in South Carolina to heirs of a group of black residents who bought the property in 1920. Turner had sued a non-profit group formed by the heirs, Land's End Woodland, seeking a court declaration that the disputed 68 acres were part of a 298-acre plot of coastland he bought in 1979. Land's End, formed in 1992 by the heirs of 47 people who bought land for $10 an acre in 1920, said the 68 acres were part of their 320-acre property, approved by a judge in 1996. Turner's action in giving up rights to the property will be considered a charitable contribution to the non-profit group.

TEXAS REVOKES ANDERSEN LICENSE: Accounting firm Arthur Andersen has lost its license to practice in Texas, the home state of its former client Enron. The state board that regulates the Texas accounting profession voted unanimously to revoke the firm's license because of the company's obstruction of justice conviction in a federal investigation of Enron's collapse.

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