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Motorola must pay $22.9M to defunct firm

By TIMES WIRES
Published April 21, 2007

FORT LAUDERDALE

A judge Thursday ordered Motorola Inc. to pay $22.9-million in attorneys fees and costs to lawyers for a now-defunct technology company, months after a trade-secrets lawsuit ended in a hung jury. Circuit Judge Leroy Moe ruled that the law firm headed by famed attorney Willie Gary was due money based on Motorola's alleged poor conduct during the trial against SPS Technologies Corp. But the award was much less than the $200-million in fees, costs and restitution sought by Gary's firm, and the judge did not even address the issue of restitution or sanctions in his ruling.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas

Clear Channel selling TV stations

Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest operator of radio stations, said Friday it agreed to sell its 56 television stations to a private-equity firm for $1.2-billion. The company had announced it would sell the stations last November, part of a divestiture that includes the possible sale of 448 radio stations. So far, the company has reached agreements to sell 161 radio stations for a total of about $331-million. Clear Channel owns more than 1,100 radio stations nationwide, including some in the Tampa Bay area, and plans to retain about 675, mostly in larger markets. Providence Equity Partners, which specializes in media and communications holdings, will acquire the Clear Channel television stations by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval. Clear Channel operates TV stations in Jacksonville and Pensacola.

WASHINGTON

FTC asked to block Google-DoubleClick

A consumer group asked the Federal Trade Commission Friday to investigate and block Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1-billion purchase of online advertising company DoubleClick Inc. unless the companies improve consumer privacy protections. The complaint, filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, alleges that Google and New York-based DoubleClick collect exhaustive personal information on consumers using the Internet but don't adequately protect the privacy of that information.

NASHVILLE

Foot Locker goes public with bid

Foot Locker Inc., which wants to expand into the specialty footwear sector, went public Friday with an unsolicited $1.2-billion cash bid for retailer Genesco Inc. The $46-per-share bid represents a 26 percent premium to Genesco's average share price during the one-year period before April 4, when Foot Locker first sent a letter to Nashville-based Genesco expressing takeover interest. Genesco said it will evaluate the proposal with its financial adviser Goldman Sachs.

SAN FRANCISCO

Guitar Hero 2 plays mean riff on sales

The latest installment of the popular Guitar Hero has flown off retail shelves, giving a last-minute boost to video game sales for past month. Activision Inc. launched Guitar Hero 2 for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 game console on April 3, just five days before the close of the March sales period. Still, the title moved about 291,000 units in that time, making it the third top-seller for the month, according to data from NPD Group.

[Last modified April 21, 2007, 02:03:16]