GOODYEAR TO RESTATE EARNINGS: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plans to restate earnings for the past five years, decreasing income by as much as $100-million because an accounting system caused errors. The nation's largest tire maker also said Wednesday it was delaying the release of its third quarter earnings until mid November. Results were supposed to have been released this morning. In a statement released after the market closed, Goodyear said an accounting system put into operation in 1999 caused errors with its billing system, resulting in mistakes it is now identifying and correcting.
WACHOVIA BUYS SECURITIES FIRM: Wachovia Corp. said it has agreed to buy Metropolitan West Securities LLC, a securities lending and short-term fixed-income asset management firm for institutional investors. Terms were not disclosed. Clients of the Los Angeles firm have more than $50-billion in securities on loan and include public funds and corporate portfolios, Wachovia said. Metropolitan West's 60 executives and employees will continue to operate under the firm's name from its California and Short Hills, N.J., offices. Wachovia expects to complete the purchase in January.
AOL FOUNDER SUBPOENAED: A continuing federal probe into AOL Time Warner's accounting practices has reached top management, as the Securities and Exchange Commission issued subpoenas to Time Warner Chairman Richard Parsons, American Online founder Steve Case and other senior officials, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. The SEC wants to question them about the company's booking of $400-million in revenue from transactions with German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG following the 2001 merger of America Online and Time Warner. Amid the new revelations about the probe, the company also revealed Wednesday that America Online lost 2-million subscribers during the past year, including 688,000 users who left the online service during the third quarter.
PHONE RATE HEARING TODAY: The Florida Public Service Commission will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. today at St. Petersburg City Hall on applications by Verizon, BellSouth and Sprint to raise local basic phone rates sharply under recently eased state telecom regulations. The hearing will be held in City Council chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 175 Fifth St. N.
FLORIDA LAW FIRMS MERGE: Akerman Senterfitt of Orlando, the largest full-service law firm exclusively in Florida, plans to merge with labor and employment law firm Muller Mintz P.A. of Miami. The transition, which will merge 22 Muller lawyers and more than 375 lawyers at Akerman, as well as their staffs, is expected to be completed by the end of the year. Akerman has offices across the state, including Tampa.
JUDGE PRODS QUATTRONE JURY: U.S. District Judge Richard Owen prodded deadlocked jurors Wednesday in the trial of former star investment banker Frank Quattrone, hoping to coax a verdict by reminding them "you should not hesitate to re-examine your views." Owen also defined key legal terms and, for the third time, read jurors the elements of the three criminal charges against Quattrone. Quattrone is charged with witness tampering and two counts of obstruction of justice.
LAW FIRMS MORE DIVERSE: The number of women and minorities in the legal profession has risen sharply in 30 years, but white men still are far more likely to become partners in major law firms, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found in its report on law firm diversity. Forty percent of legal professionals are women, up from 14 percent in 1975. Twice as many blacks work in the legal profession than did in 1975, and over 4 percent of professionals in law firms are black. Hispanics more than doubled to 3 percent; Asians rose to 6.5 percent, five times their percentage in 1975.
