BUSCH PLANS SHUTTLE SERVICE: Busch Gardens will initiate free once-a-day shuttle service to three downtown Tampa hotels in January. The 48-passenger roundtrip charter bus will be available to people who buy Busch Gardens tickets at the hotels' concierge desks. "It's a value-added service to attract visitors who might not come to our park because they don't have transportation," said Busch spokesman Gerard Hoeppner. The move was not welcomed by some local taxi companies. "We're concerned any time anybody offers a free service during the prime time of the day," said Nancy Castellano, manager of Gulf Coast Transportation, which operates United Cab and is affiliated with the Bay Shuttle airport limo. "We support the tourist industry 24 hours a day, yet they are leaving us the scraps."
NO WI-FI FOR ST. PETERSBURG: The Wi-Fi, or wireless fidelity, zone that the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership hoped to have in place in time for the city's First Night festivities on New Year's Eve has been indefinitely postponed. Partnership president Don Shea said the organization has been unable to find a sponsor to pay for the technology, which enables wireless connections to the Internet. The zone is expected to cost about $70,000 initially, with about $30,000 in annual upkeep, although Shea says rapidly evolving technology could lower that cost.
PRIME RETAIL BUYOUT COMPLETED: Lightstone Group LLC, a closely held real estate investment company based in Lakewood, N.J., completed its acquisition of Prime Retail Inc., the Baltimore company that developed and owned Prime Outlets Ellenton, an outlet mall in Manatee County. The price was $115.5-million in cash plus the assumption of $511-million in debt.
COKE BUYS BACK MORE STOCK: Coca-Cola Co. plans to buy back at least $2-billion in stock next year, boosting its share repurchasing by a third as rising sales and a falling dollar bolster profit. Coca-Cola still expects to increase earnings per share at least 11 percent a year, the Atlanta company said, without giving a specific forecast. The beverage maker said in October it planned to repurchase $1.5-billion in stock this year. Next year's $2-billion plan would allow Coca-Cola to buy more than 41-million shares at the current price, representing almost 2 percent of outstanding stock.
HOME SALES FORECAST STRONG: Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage buyer, raised its forecast for U.S. home sales, saying low mortgage rates and an accelerating economy may result in a record number of purchases this year and next. Fannie Mae estimates 7.09-million new and existing single-family homes will sell this year, which would be a gain of 8.4 percent from last year's record 6.54-million, said David Berson, Fannie Mae's chief economist. While Berson forecast 6.73-million home sales in 2004, he said he may increase that number again to a level that exceeds this year's.
GM PENSIONS NEARLY FUNDED: General Motors Corp. says its once-lagging U.S. employee pension plans will be nearly fully funded by year's end, reflecting the improved performance of financial markets and cash contributions. To start 2003, GM's pension plans for hourly and salaried workers were underfunded by $19.3-billion. The automaker said Friday it has put more than $14-billion in the plans this year and could add $4.1-billion more by year's end if it completes the sale of its Hughes Electronics subsidiary.
SCRUSHY'S CASH UNTOUCHABLE: U.S. District Judge Karen Bowdre rejected HealthSouth's bid for $25-million from fired chief executive Richard Scrushy, who was ordered by a judge in Delaware to pay that amount to the rehabilitation clinic operator. HealthSouth asked Bowdre in Birmingham to release the $25-million or make Scrushy put up collateral to secure it. But the judge said Scrushy's assets had not been seized by the government, so she could not hand the money to the company.
CEO LEAVES SWITCH AND DATA: Patricia Higgins has resigned after 31/2 years as president and chief executive of Switch and Data to pursue other interests, the company announced late Friday. She will stay on until a successor is chosen, and then will remain on the board of the small Tampa technology company that provides telecom companies and Internet service providers with space for switching equipment during a transition period.
WINDOWS 98 SUPPORT ENDS: Microsoft Corp. will stop offering telephone support services Jan. 16 for computer users whose machines are still running Windows 98, though the company said it might still release security patches if threats appear serious enough. Support for Windows 95 stopped Dec. 31, 2001. Online assistance will still be available for Windows 98.
NEW CHAIRMAN FOR FEDERATED: Terry J. Lundgren, president and chief executive officer of Federated Department Stores Inc., will add the title of chairman Jan. 15, succeeding current chairman James M. Zimmerman, retiring after 38 years with the retailer. The change, announced Friday, will complete a two year transition of authority from Zimmerman to Lundgren. Lundgren, 51, becomes the seventh chairman-CEO in 75 years for Federated, whose stores include Macy's and Burdines.
CHEEBURGER CHEEBURGER REINED IN: Billy Goat Inc., owner of the Chicago tavern that inspired a Saturday Night Live skit featuring the late John Belushi, reached an agreement that will keep Cheeburger Cheeburger restaurants out of Chicago. The accord settles the trademark infringement suit that Billy Goat Tavern owner Sam Sianis brought this week. The Fort Myers chain Cheeburger Cheeburger agreed not to open restaurants within 125 miles of Chicago and its trademark for the Cheeburger Cheeburger name won't apply in greater Chicago. Sianis will seek to register the phrase "cheezborger, cheezborger" in the area.
ISG IPO FLIES ON NYSE: Shares of International Steel Group Inc., the company formed by turnaround expert Wilbur Ross from the ashes of bankrupt steel makers, surged nearly 26 percent in their market debut Friday. International Steel sold 16.5-million shares for the initial public offering of stock late Thursday at $28 a share, raising $462-million. That was well above the $22 to $24 a share range the company said it expected in late November. The shares began trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol ISG. They closed at $35.20, up $7.20 from the offer price, on volume of about 14.9-million shares.
FORMER CHRYSLER PRESIDENT DIES: Eugene A. Cafiero, president of the Chrysler Corp. in the 1970s during one of the company's most difficult financial periods, died Monday of pancreatic cancer in Naples, Fla. He was 77. Cafiero became president of Chrysler in 1975, when the company was in financial distress and the American automobile industry was beginning to undergo dramatic changes. Under his watch, Chrysler had two profitable years until a recession and federal fuel efficiency standards caused sharp losses in 1978. Lee Iacocca succeeded him. Cafiero is survived by his wife, Taryn, five children and three grandchildren.
USAA VOTED "MILITARY FRIENDLY': USAA is one of the country's "Top 10 Most Military Friendly Employers," according to an inaugural list compiled by G.I. Jobs magazine. The insurance company, which is based in San Antonio, employs more than 1,500 in its Tampa office, many of them former military or relatives of military personnel. The company was created in 1922 as a member-owned association to provide insurance coverage to military families.
FLA. EXPECTS RECORD ORANGE CROP: Florida will produce a record orange crop, with groves escaping damage from the state's first cold front this winter, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Production will be 252-million boxes, unchanged from the initial estimate in October and about one-fourth bigger than last season, the government said. "There is no hope for the market; it's just doomed," said Warren McKnight, vice president of sales at Holly Hill Products Inc., a grower in Davenport.
