UNITED ASKS AGAIN FOR LOAN: United Airlines filed a new application for a federal loan guarantee Tuesday, less than a week after federal authorities rejected a similar request. The airline declined to reveal how much it is seeking in its new application. Company spokeswoman Jean Medina would say only that the request "included some changes." Anne Womack Kolton, a spokeswoman for the Air Transportation Stabilization Board, confirmed the new filing, but no details were provided and the filing was not made public. The application marks the third attempt by the airline to secure federal assistance.
COKE REPLACES MARKETING CHIEF: Another top executive at the Coca-Cola Co. is leaving: chief marketing officer Daniel Palumbo, who has been with the world's largest beveragemaker for only a year. At least a half-dozen top executives have left Coke in the past year - Palumbo and president Steve Heyer the most recent. Chuck Fruit, who will replace Palumbo, dismissed the idea that high-level talent is fleeing. "Some people fit in a particular organization and some don't," he said. Coke said Palumbo was leaving to "pursue other opportunities." Fruit has been with Coke since 1991 and is being promoted from senior vice president of integrated marketing.
SBC PLANS FIBER-OPTIC NETWORK: SBC Communications Inc. will spend as much as $6-billion building a fiber-optic network that offers digital television service as it steps up competition with cable-TV providers. Microsoft Corp. will supply Internet Protocol TV software for the network, which will be rolled out over five years, SBC said. SBC will use the connections to sell fast Internet service and Web calling to consumers and small businesses. "It will set the stage for full competition against cable," SBC CEO Edward Whitacre said in a speech at the Supercomm 2004 conference in Chicago.
SPRINT PUTS $1-BILLION INTO SPEED: Trying to keep pace with its rivals, Sprint Corp. is boosting speeds on its wireless data network by up to 10 times in a technology upgrade it says will cost about $1-billion. The company said Tuesday it will begin the upgrade to what the industry touts as wireless broadband Internet access in the second half of this year in selected markets it did not identify. Sprint said it expects the technology, known as EV-DO, to be available in "the majority of top metropolitan markets" in 2005.
MESSIER UNDER FORMAL INVESTIGATION: French investigators have placed former Vivendi Universal chairman Jean-Marie Messier under formal investigation for suspected financial wrongdoing, his lawyer said. Magistrates notified Messier that he is being investigated - a step short of formal charges - at a hearing that lasted into this morning, lawyer Olivier Metzner said. Messier was then released from custody, where he had been held since Monday.
ITALY GIVES ALITALIA BRIDGE LOAN: The Italian government agreed Tuesday to guarantee a short-term bridge loan in a bid to stave off bankruptcy at the state-controlled airline Alitalia. The announcement was made at the end of a Cabinet meeting at Premier Silvio Berlusconi's office in Rome. "It's the first significant step to reach the important goal of restoring the finances of Italy's flagship airline," Deputy Transport Minister Mario Tassone told reporters after the meeting. Tassone did not disclose the amount of the loan, but the Italian news agencies ANSA and AGI said it totaled $605-million.
