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Business Today

By wire services
Published April 7, 2005

RAYTHEON TO LAY OFF 37: Raytheon Co. will lay off 37 production and support function workers at its Largo plant on May 6. The company told employees Wednesday the layoffs were related to the end of production on "three or four" military radio contracts, said spokeswoman Maribeth Welch. Raytheon eliminated 130 engineering positions in St. Petersburg in October after losing a major satellite communications contract to Lockheed Martin Corp. Raytheon has 825 employees at the Largo plant and about 1,000 in St. Petersburg, Welch said.

DANKA RESHUFFLES MANAGEMENT: Danka Business Systems, the St. Petersburg document technology company, announced a reshuffling of its Americas Group management structure Wednesday. Americas chief operating officer Michael Popielec will leave in the next few months and his sales and customer fulfillment duties will be split between president and CEO Todd Mavis and executive vice president and CIO Michael Wedge.

SENATE PHONE BILL MOVES ON: The state Senate committee on communications and public utilities approved an amended version of a bill Tuesday on telecommunications regulation that removed language state Attorney General Charlie Crist said might have restricted his office's ability to pursue cases involving deceptive or unfair trade practices. The bill is the Senate version of a House bill that also proposes allowing phone companies to pass through catastrophic storm costs to their customers.

SYNIVERSE, M-QUBE PARTNER: Syniverse Technologies of Tampa said Wednesday it has partnered with m-Qube, a Watertown, Mass., developer of wireless content and software. The partnership will broaden m-Qube's distribution reach, while Syniverse's wireless-carrier clients will be able to offer their customers m-Qube content and services, the companies said.

GM TO BUILD HUMMERS IN SOUTH AFRICA: General Motors Corp. said Wednesday it will build a version of the Hummer H3 in South Africa starting next year, marking the first time a Hummer has been built outside the United States. GM said it is investing $100-million to develop and produce the mid size H3 at its Struandale facility in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. GM said it eventually could produce 10,000 of the vehicles in South Africa, solely for export to Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The H3 is expected to go on sale in South Africa in mid 2007, GM said.

EASTMAN KODAK RESTATES EARNINGS: Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday it reduced its previously reported 2004 profits by $93-million and its 2003 profits by $12-million to fix accounting errors mainly in income taxes and pensions. In January, when the photography company posted results for 2004, it said the results were preliminary because it discovered errors that would require a restatement but would have no material effect on revenue or cash.

MSN MESSENGER USERS CAN DOWNLOAD AD-LADEN CONTENT: Microsoft Corp. is betting that consumers will be willing to use their instant messaging identities as billboards for products ranging from Sprite to Adidas sneakers. The newest version of MSN Messenger instant messaging product, released late Wednesday, allows consumers to download free backgrounds, pictures and other content tied to specific ad campaigns. The hope is that users will then share those downloads with other consumers - providing another boost to advertisers, who pay Microsoft for the privilege. Microsoft is launching the program with German sportswear maker Adidas Salomon-AG and Sprite, made by Coca-Cola Co.

[Last modified April 7, 2005, 01:31:34]