Business Today

FIRST USA SETTLES COMPLAINT: First USA Bank, the nation's largest issuer of Visa credit cards, has agreed to pay $1.3-million as part of a settlement with 28 states, including Florida, over the way telemarketing firms sold products and services to the banking company's customers. First USA, now doing business as Bank One Card Services, also agreed to police its third-party vendors to prevent deceptive telemarketing aimed at its more than 53-million credit card holders, according to the New York state Attorney General's Office. The settlement ends a three-year investigation into customer complaints. The investigation showed consumers sometimes were charged on their credit cards for products or services they had no idea they agreed to buy. The four lead states -- California, Illinois, New York and Vermont -- each got $125,000 in the settlement. The others, including Florida, will receive about $26,000.

GLOBAL CROSSING NAMES NEW LEADERS: Global Crossing Ltd. said Myron Ullman and Jeremiah Lambert will become co-chairmen of the bankrupt fiber-optic network operator following the resignation of founder Gary Winnick. Lambert, a former senior partner with the law firm of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, and Ullman, a former director general of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA, were named Global Crossing directors in April. Global Crossing filed for Chapter 11 protection in January after piling up $12.4-billion in debt building a 27-nation network for sending telephone calls and data at high speeds.

TASTYKAKE BAKER CLOSING STORES: Tasty Baking Co., maker of the Tastykake brand of snacks, has closed its 12 stores, and several top executives including its chairman have left the company. The changes come less than three months after Charles P. Pizzi took over as chief executive and president of the 88-year-old maker of cakes, pies and cookies. Pizzi called the changes a first step to "refocus on profitable growth." The idea for the stores, in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, was to generate revenue by selling older snacks at discounted prices. But the stores drew too few customers to make them profitable.

LARGO COMPANY WINS DEFENSE CONTRACT: DRS Surveillance Support Systems Inc. of Largo has been awarded a $7.7-million contract for radar systems, parts and support used by the U.S. Navy for detection of low-flying aircraft. Work is scheduled to be completed by October 2005.

VIVENDI SELLS PUBLISHER: French media company Vivendi Universal said Tuesday it had completed its sale of U.S. publishing house Houghton Mifflin to a group of private investors for $1.28-billion in cash. Houghton Mifflin publishes a wide range of educational textbooks. Vivendi purchased the company in 2001 for $2.2-billion including debt.

UNITED LOSS PUT AT $3.2-BILLION: A United Airlines executive disclosed in court Monday that the carrier will lose a record $3.2-billion in 2002, far surpassing previous estimates. Meanwhile, in a recorded telephone message to employees, the airline warned that it may be forced to lay off a "significant" number of workers soon. United has laid off 20,000 workers since the 2001 terrorist attacks and filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 9.

ARIBA TO RESTATE RESULTS: Ariba Inc. will restate its financial results for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2001, to change the way it accounted for a $10-million transaction between two of its officers, the company said Tuesday. The move will lead to an additional $10-million in compensation expense being reflected as a noncash charge to operating expenses. The maker of corporate procurement software also said it missed the Dec. 30 deadline for filing its fiscal 2002 financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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