WACHOVIA SHEDS 59 TAMPA JOBS: Wachovia Corp. is eliminating the jobs of 59 Tampa workers July 15. The job cuts are the result of a deal in which Remitco, a unit of First Data Corp., will take over processing services for retail lock boxes. Companies that have accounts with Wachovia use the boxes for their customers to mail in payments. Remitco's services will include a Web-based archive allowing companies to view images of their customers' checks. The Wachovia employees, who work at 5201 W Kennedy Blvd., will receive severance pay and job search assistance.
HARRIS INTERACTIVE NAMES COO: Harris Interactive Inc., which conducts market research using the Internet and its Harris Poll out of Rochester, N.Y., named Gregory Novak president and chief operating officer to replace Albert Angrisani, who resigned. Novak, 42, will report to CEO Robert Knapp. He has been with the company since 1999 and helped implement Harris Interactive's Internet research, the company said in a statement. Angrisani, 55, had been president and operating chief since November 2001, the company said.
FIRST COMMUNITY FORMS TAMPA REGION: S.T. "Sie" Kamide has been appointed president of the new Tampa region of First Community Bank of America, the bank said Friday. Kamide, 47, has more than 25 years of banking experience, most recently with First Commercial Bank of Tampa Bay. First Community has branches in Largo, Pinellas Park, St. Petersburg and Port Charlotte and a loan production office in Englewood. A First Community spokeswoman said it was too soon to specify branch locations as the bank expands into Tampa.
WORLDCOM GIVES U.S. $27-MILLION: WorldCom Inc., seeking to emerge from creditor protection this month and rename itself MCI Inc., agreed to refund $27-million to federal agencies to settle claims it overbilled them for communications services. The billing dispute was caused by "conflicting language" in a contract about how fees should be assessed, WorldCom said. The General Services Administration lifted a ban on WorldCom's ability to win new contracts from the federal government two months ago.
ENRON CONFIRMATION ON HOLD: Plans to confirm Enron Corp.'s road map for emerging from one of the most expensive and complicated bankruptcies in history during April has turned out to be a bit too optimistic. About 100 objections to Enron's reorganization plan have been filed by creditors, and Enron's lawyers are trying to resolve as many as possible before seeking confirmation of the plan from U.S. District Judge Arthur Gonzalez in New York, company spokeswoman Karen Denne said Friday. The confirmation hearing set for April 20 has been postponed to June 3.
MARRIOTT SELLS STAKE IN 2 BRANDS: Marriott International Inc., the largest U.S. hotel operator, agreed to sell its U.S. stake in the Ramada and Days Inn hotel brands to partner Cendant Corp. for about $200-million, ending a venture after two years. Marriott said the sale enables it to shed an asset that wasn't part of its strategy of owning and managing hotels under names including Marriott, Renaissance and Ritz-Carlton.
PARMALAT DOCUMENTS REAPPEAR: In a twist befitting a mystery novel, documents that prosecutors in Milan, Italy, said showed Bank of America had advance knowledge of the collapse of Parmalat disappeared Thursday, only to reappear just as mysteriously Friday. The documents, which included testimony from a Bank of America employee and internal e-mail messages sent by other bank employees, had been misplaced, according to the Italian news agency Ansa. The documents were part of the numerous boxes of evidence Milan prosecutors sent to a judge to request indictments of 29 people and three institutions, including Bank of America, accused of having had a hand in the fall of Parmalat. The Milan courthouse may now get a guard to stand watch in the room where the documents are housed, according to Ansa.
SCRUSHY: BUSH OUT TO GET HIM: President Bush, who made comments about corporate fraud in a visit to Birmingham last year, is part of a government campaign against fired HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, defense lawyers claimed Friday. Answering a government request for a partial gag order in the case, the defense accused prosecutors of creating a media frenzy that included the comments by Bush and leaks by prosecutors. Government actions have generated scores of stories critical of Scrushy, the defense argued, and the former health care executive has a First Amendment right to respond. Free on $10-million bond, Scrushy has pleaded innocent to charges that he made millions off a conspiracy to overstate earnings at the Birmingham rehabilitation giant.
EISNER SAYS HE FEELS FREE: In his first meeting with investors since being stripped of the chairmanship of the Walt Disney Co., Michael Eisner spoke Thursday of being freed to focus more on the creative endeavors of the entertainment conglomerate. During a session hosted by Credit Suisse First Boston, the embattled Eisner acknowledged that the shareholder revolt at last month's raucous annual meeting in Philadelphia is not likely to be the end of the storm of criticism against him. "There's still noise out there," said Eisner, who remains Disney's CEO and a board member. "There will be noise out there as long as my enemies are still my enemies."
XEROX REWARDS CEO MULCAHY: Xerox Corp., the biggest U.S. copier maker, raised CEO Anne Mulcahy's 2003 compensation by 18 percent as the company's shares rose to their highest level since September 2000 and profit quadrupled. Mulcahy, 51, earned salary, bonus and miscellaneous compensation of $3.4-million in 2003, up from $2.57-million the previous year, the company said in a regulatory filing. She received other compensation totaling $198,000 in 2003, up from $66,700 the year before. Xerox shares rose 71 percent in 2003. Mulcahy has been working to regain investors' confidence after the company in 2002 restated $6.4-billion in revenue over five years and paid a $10-million fine for recording sales prematurely.
CONTINENTAL SETTLES DISCRIMINATION CASE: The government announced a settlement Friday with Continental Airlines over allegations that the carrier discriminated after the Sept. 11 terror attacks against travelers believed to have been of Arab, Middle Eastern or Southeast Asian descent. The Transportation Department started getting complaints about a number of Continental flights in the weeks after the attacks, said spokesman Bill Mosley. He said four passengers complained that they were removed from flights because of their ethnic background or national origin. The department said its investigation found that Continental acted improperly. Continental maintains no wrongdoing, but the airline has agreed to provide civil rights training over the next two years to its pilots and cabin crew. As part of the settlement, that training must cost the company no less than $500,000.
