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MICROSOFT SUES SPAMMERS: Microsoft Corp. filed 15 lawsuits against individuals and corporations that sent more than 2-billion unwanted messages to users of the MSN Internet and Hotmail e-mail services. The company sued 13 U.S. senders of spam and two in the United Kingdom, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said. Microsoft is seeking damages and to force the spammers to stop sending the messages, which tout pyramid schemes, pornography and body enhancement products.
TYCO RESTATES 6 YEARS: Tyco International Ltd. is restating nearly six years of its financial results after meetings with the Securities and Exchange Commission about how to account for past charges the conglomerate has taken. The restatements will lower results for fiscal years 1998-2001 but improve them for 2002 and the first six months of this year, the company said. Tyco does not expect new charges to result from the latest restatement, the company said.
PSC ASKED TO REVERSE: State public counsel Jack Shreve and attorney general Charlie Crist have asked the Florida Public Service Commission to reverse an order limiting investigation into public counsel's dispute with Progress Energy Florida Inc. over a rate refund. The order held counsel to checking only suspicions of improper communication about the refund between the St. Petersburg utility and two commissioners. Shreve and Crist argued the issues "cannot be resolved if the commission ties our hands behind our backs during the investigation."
CHRYSLER CUTS STAFF: Faced with a second-quarter loss of $1.1-billion, the Chrysler Group of DaimlerChrysler AG plans to reduce its salaried work force by 2 percent this year. The cuts will come through attrition, spokesman David Barnas said. Declining to specify how many jobs were being eliminated, he said the Chrysler Group had 17,978 white-collar employees. Two percent of that would be about 360 jobs.
4-WEEK NOTES FALL: The Treasury sold $13-billion of four-week bills at a discount rate of 0.895 percent, down from 1.075 percent last week. The return to investors was 0.916 percent for the bills, with a $10,000 bill selling for $9,993.00.
COKE ADMITS RIGGED TEST: Coca-Cola Co. admitted Tuesday that employees rigged a marketing test of Frozen Coke at Burger Kings three years ago, one of a series of allegations in a whistleblower lawsuit being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Burger King, one of Coke's largest customers, said it was making its own investigation. A committee investigating several allegations by a former Coke manager also found that the company's fountain division had improperly valued some equipment. The company will take a $9-million pretax writedown to correct the value.
HESS OWNERS WIN: A jury has awarded $2.6-million to current and former owners of Hess gas stations in New Jersey who sued Amerada Hess Corp. for selling gasoline to franchisees at wholesale prices that were unsustainably high over a dozen years. The unanimous verdict, handed down Friday in New Jersey Superior Court in Newark, still needs to be approved by the trial judge. That process could take several weeks as attorneys for the plaintiffs seek interest payments of at least $1-million on top of the amount awarded by the jury.
VIVENDI LOSSES NARROW: Vivendi Universal reported that its loss narrowed for the first quarter and its operating profit rose, spurred by its telecommunications and pay-TV units. It said it was talking with six possible bidders for the company's U.S. entertainment assets and had set a deadline of Monday for bid proposals on its U.S. assets, which include Universal Music Group, Vivendi Universal Games and Vivendi Universal Entertainment.
SCRUSHY SUES HEALTHSOUTH: HealthSouth Corp.'s fired CEO Richard Scrushy sued the company, claiming the board excluded him from meetings and won't give him certain financial information. HealthSouth hasn't provided the information after "repeatedly" agreeing that Scrushy is entitled to it, his attorney Gary H. Baise said. Scrushy was fired March 31 after the Securities and Exchange Commission accused him and the company of inflating profits by $1.4-billion to boost the company's share price. U.S. prosecutors have said the accounting fraud may reach $2.5-billion.
Circuit City Stores Inc.The second-largest consumer electronics chain reported lower sales and a net loss in its first quarter as the war in Iraq and general economic weakness kept consumer spending down.
The results were better than the 24-cent loss analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected, and Circuit City's shares were up 92 cents to close at $7.79 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Robert Trigaux's column will return soon.