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Business Today

DeFosset wants spot on Tampa port board

By wire services
Published December 17, 2005

Don DeFosset, former chief executive of Walter Industries, has applied to Gov. Jeb Bush for appointment to the Tampa Port Authority board.

DeFosset applied Dec. 5 after retiring from Walter Industries in November. He is the fifth person to seek the seat held by board chairman Gladstone "Tony" Cooper, who has applied for reappointment. DeFosset lists three prominent local Republicans as references: Al Austin, finance chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, former Gov. Bob Martinez and architect Carlos Alfonso.

Emdeon Corp. of Elmwood Park, N.J., parent of WebMD, said it does not think the government's indictment of 10 ex-employees Thursday for accounting fraud will require a restatement of the parent company's financial statements. Former executives of Emdeon's Medical Manager subsidiary in Tampa, including ex-president John H. Kang and founder Michael A. Singer, have been charged with inflating Medical Manager's revenues from 1997 to 2001. Emdeon said no members of its management have been named in the alleged improprieties, and it is cooperating with the government. "The actions by the government are against former employees and do not affect in any way Emdeon's business operations," said Kevin Cameron, chief executive of Emdeon.

Florida's unemployment rate rose slightly in November to 3.6 percent from 3.5 percent the month before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Florida enjoyed an employment gain last month of 17,900 but was second to California, which gained 20,400 jobs.

3.5 percent: Jobless rate in November in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-

31,400: New jobs created locally during the past year. The Tampa Bay area was behind Miami and Orlando areas in job creation last month.

255,100: How many jobs Florida created from November 2004 to November 2005, tops in the country and more than twice the national rate.

205,300: How many jobs Louisiana lost from November 2004 to November 2005, largely from Hurricane Katrina, the biggest decline in the country.

7.84-million: Number of people employed in Florida in nonfarm work in November.

314,800: Number of people deemed unemployed in Florida in November.

Google Inc. is buying a 5 percent stake in America Online for $1-billion as part of a far-reaching business and advertising partnership that will link the companies in many ways and will greatly enhance AOL's financial prospects, the Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the agreement.

The deal between Google and AOL is a setback for Microsoft Corp., which had sought to replace Google as the search engine on the AOL service and had been in talks with AOL's parent, Time Warner Corp, since January. Google is the leader in search, followed by Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft's MSN Search, which is a distant third.

Under the agreement, Google will remain the search engine on the AOL service with a revenue sharing from text-based ads provided by Google of about 80 percent to AOL and 20 percent to Google. In addition, AOL will get the exclusive right to sell other types of advertising, including banner ads, for the Google network. AOL will keep 20 percent of the proceeds from those ad sales; Google will get about 80 percent.

After seven years of false starts, a $1-million car billed as the world's fastest factory-produced automobile is about to arrive on American shores.

Volkswagen AG is launching early next year the Bugatti Veyron, a curvaceous two-seater with air-intake scoops and a large radiator grille that prominently displays the Bugatti badge. The Bugatti Veyron boasts a huge, rear-mounted 16-cylinder engine with 1,001 horsepower - roughly the equivalent of a couple of Porsche 911s combined - and a rear spoiler that helps keep the car from spinning out of control at high speeds. It needs just 2.5 seconds to accelerate from zero to 62 miles per hour, and burns rubber so quickly that its makers had to hire France's Michelin SCA to develop a special compound for its tires. Its top speed: 252.9 mph.

If the Walt Disney Co. has its way, McDonald's Happy Meal toys could be replaced with portable media players that hold Disney movies, music, games or photos, according to a pending patent application.

Users could add files to the devices by earning points with food purchases.

The plan could work something like this: A customer enters a restaurant and buys a meal, receiving the portable media player and an electronic code that authorizes a partial download of a movie, video or other media file, which can be downloaded while in the restaurant, according to a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office application filed by Disney. Then, with each subsequent return, the customer earns more downloadable data, eventually getting an entire movie or game.

But McDonald's customers should not plan on the devices appearing any time soon. Patent applications take an average of 30 months for final approval.

Carnival Corp.: The world's largest cruise operator, based in Miami, said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings jumped 20 percent on new capacity and the continued rise of ticket prices and onboard revenues.

But Carnival's shares fell nearly 4 percent as it said that earnings next year would be lower than analysts expected.

Information from the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and the New York Times was used in this report.

[Last modified December 17, 2005, 01:01:18]