Business today

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 31, 2001

HCA ADJUSTS LEADERSHIP: Jack O. Bovender will succeed Dr. Thomas Frist Jr. on Jan. 1 as chairman of HCA, the nation's largest hospital chain. Bovender, who ran Largo Medical Center in the late 1970s, has been the Nashville, Tenn., hospital company's president and chief executive since January and has worked at HCA for more than 20 years. After the transition, Bovender will remain chief executive and Richard Bracken, currently president of HCA's western group, will become president. Bracken is being promoted immediately to HCA's chief operating officer. Replacing him as president of HCA's western group is Samuel Hazen, who has been the division's chief financial officer. Frist, who founded HCA in 1968 with his father and Jack C. Massey, will remain on HCA's board. He is also one of HCA's largest shareholders. HCA has agreed to pay more than $840-million in criminal fines and civil penalties to settle a long-running federal investigation into its practices. The company is in negotiations with the government over allegations that it routinely overcharged Medicare and paid kickbacks to physicians.

WORD OUT ON CODE RED WORM: Government and private officials warned computer users about the spread of the "Code Red" worm before it threatens the well-being of the Internet. Officials worry that newly discovered versions of the worm can be reprogrammed to launch crippling attacks on any Web site. The worm has infected hundreds of thousands of computers running Microsoft's Internet server software. Web site administrators running Microsoft Windows NT and 2000 operating systems, along with the Internet Information Services software, should download Microsoft's patch from the company's Web site. Users running Windows 95, 98 or Me are not vulnerable. Investigators don't yet know who wrote Code Red or where it started. The FBI is working with Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia to fight the worm's spread.

TAX CHECK ARREST: Two Boca Raton men were arrested on federal charges of sending bogus notices telling taxpayers to send them a fee for information on their upcoming tax rebate checks. Borden Barrows, 39, and Russell Wayne Levine, 42, were arrested over the weekend on charges they ran the tax rebate scam through their Boca Raton company, Revenue Resource Center. The men were each charged with one count of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. Barrows is the brother of author Sydney Biddle Barrows, the "Mayflower Madam," who ran the brothel Cachet in New York during the 1980s.

BANK SETTLES SEC CHARGE: Bank of America Corp. settled a Securities and Exchange Commission case charging that a predecessor of the bank didn't properly warn investors of risks that led to a $372-million write-off. The commission alleged that BankAmerica Corp. wrongly accounted for payments to New York hedge-fund operator D.E. Shaw & Co. as a loan, rather than an investment. The settlement did not include a fine.

BLUELIGHT DROPS FREE WEB SERVICE: BlueLight.com said it will discontinue offering free Internet service to consumers. BlueLight.com said in a release that the free service, called BlueLight Basic, would end Aug. 29, replaced by BlueLight Unlimited, which started Monday. BlueLight Basic users had received 12 hours of free Web access per month. BlueLight Unlimited will cost $8.95 a month for unlimited Internet usage. BlueLight.com is an independent company based in San Francisco with Kmart as a majority stockholder.

JURASSIC PROMO: Hoping to capitalize on the film Jurassic Park III, Universal Orlando is offering an overnight "dinosaur adventure" travel package at its Islands of Adventure theme park. Up to 19 guests will get a chartered jet for a night of unlimited rides and a luxury sleep-over in trailers parked in the campground on the park's Jurassic Park Island. The price: $1-million.

WEB DESIGN MERGER: Cyberscapes Interactive, a bay area Web design company, has acquired former competitor and Internet hosting service NEXTDigital. The two Tampa companies agreed to share hosting revenues from NEXTDigital's clients, which are mostly small and midsize businesses. After the acquisition, Cyberscapes will host and manage more than 150 sites. Among Cyberscapes' clients are Outback Steakhouse, Bay News 9 and Closet Maid.

US AIRWAYS ADJUSTS STRATEGY: US Airways Group Inc. asked its pilots union to let the airline fly more regional jetliners as part of a plan to operate independently after the collapse of its purchase by UAL Corp. In a recorded message and a letter to employees, the airline said the increased competition from low-fare competitors has made it critical for it to add "significantly" to its current fleet of 70 regional jets. US Airways pilot Roy Freundlich, a union spokesman, said that pilots want management to ensure, in writing, job security so that pilots and other employees now working on large mainline airplanes will not be laid off, or bumped to less high-paying smaller jets.

VENTURE SPENDING SLOWS: Venture capitalists invested $10.6-billion in start-ups during the second quarter, a 61 percent drop from the same time last year, according to the research firm Venture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association, an industry trade group. As Internet companies fell out of favor, biotechnology became more alluring. Start-ups focused on medical sciences, health and biotechnology received $1.47-billion in venture capital in this year's second quarter, a 37 percent increase from a year ago.

TREASURY AUCTION: Interest rates on short-term Treasury securities were mixed in Monday's auction. The Treasury Department sold $15-billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.480 percent, unchanged from last week. An additional $14-billion was sold in six-month bills at a rate of 3.380 percent, down from 3.440 percent. The new discount rates understate the actual return to investors: 3.561 percent for three-month bills and 3.487 percent for a six-month bill. In a separate report, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year constant maturity Treasury bills fell to 3.59 percent last week from 3.60 percent the previous week.

Earnings

SYKES ENTERPRISES INC.: Net income during the quarter ended June 30 fell 94 percent versus the same period last year. But last year's earnings figure reflected the sale of Sykes' SHPS Inc. subsidiary. In the third quarter, the Tampa technical-support company expects revenues of $105-million to $115-million and earnings per share of 3 cents to 5 cents.

HUMANA INC.: Higher premiums and additional customers in government insurance contracts boosted net income for the quarter ended June 30, The managed care giant is based in Louisville, Ky.

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