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By wire services
Published July 22, 2004

DREAMWORKS TO SPIN OFF ANIMATORS: Hoping to capitalize on its record-setting animated film Shrek 2, DreamWorks will sell stock in its DreamWorks Animation Inc. division this fall, the company said Wednesday. The studio intends to spin off the division and offer up to $650-million worth of common stock. Control of it will remain with DreamWorks co-founders Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

GROUP FIGHTS SCRIPPS CAMPUS: A group calling itself 1000 Friends of Florida opposes the site chosen for Scripps Research Institute's campus in Palm Beach County, citing planning and environmental concerns. The growth management advocates said that despite the more than $500-million in taxpayer money committed to the project, millions more will be needed for infrastructure. The group also said the project, in northwest Palm Beach County, could harm efforts to restore the Loxahatchee River. The group wants Palm Beach County commissioners to consider other sites.

FLA. MAN CHARGED AS HACKER: Scott Levine, 45, of Florida, has been charged with stealing large amounts of consumer information from Acxiom Corp., one of the world's largest database companies. The indictment comes on the heels of a case last year in which an Ohio man pleaded guilty to hacking into an Acxiom server. Acxiom manages personal information on millions of consumers, along with internal data for companies. Levine ran Snipermail.com Inc., which distributed ads over e-mail. Prosecutors said Levine and others took 8.2 gigabytes of consumer files in 2002 and 2003.

GREENSPAN WARNS OF LONG TERM: Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday Congress has lost the ability to manage long-term budget issues and new ways are needed to keep costs from ballooning beyond the nation's ability to pay. Greenspan defended President Bush's tax cuts, saying they helped ensure that the 2001 recession was mild and brief and have helped the current rebound. But he warned that rising deficits could become a problem as Social Security and Medicare costs escalate with baby boomer retirements.

3 FLA. NEWSPAPERS SOLD: HarborPoint Media LLC, a newly formed newspaper company, plans to purchase 13 publications, including three Florida newspapers, from the Better Built Group. The three are the Daily Commercial in Leesburg; the South Lake Press, a semiweekly sister paper of the Commercial; and the Sebring News-Sun. The deal is expected to be finalized Friday. Michael Redding, who has been an executive at the Daytona Beach News-Journal and Liberty Group Publishing, will be HarborPoint's CEO.

MITSUBISHI CUTS BACK IN U.S.: Mitsubishi Motors will lay off 1,200 workers in Normal, Ill., this fall in its only U.S. plant, trimming car production as part of a worldwide revival plan the automaker hopes will pare mounting debts, the company announced Wednesday. The Japanese automaker, battling losses from bad credit and recall scandals, said production will be cut from two shifts to one in October at the plant, which now has more than 3,100 workers.

11 FIRED AT POULTRY PLANT: A Pilgrim's Pride poultry processing plant in Moorefield, W.Va., fired 11 workers Wednesday, a day after animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released a video of workers kicking and smashing live chickens in the plant. KFC restaurants said it will stop buying from the plant until Pilgrim's Pride can ensure no more abuse will occur.

[Last modified July 22, 2004, 11:05:07]