Business today

By Compiled from Times staff and wire reports

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 11, 2000

WEEKLY JOBLESS CLAIMS RISE: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 18,000 last week to 293,000, the Labor Department reported. The increase was slightly larger than economists had been forecasting. But it still left the claims level below the 300,000-mark that is viewed as signaling extremely tight labor markets. The four-week moving average, which helps smooth out weekly variations, fell last week to 288,500, the lowest level since the four weeks ended May 27.

LILLY SHARES RECOVER: Eli Lilly & Co. shares bounced back a day after a federal appeals court ruling cleared the way for the sale of a generic version of Prozac, the world's top-selling anti-depressant, as early as next summer. Lilly, the maker of Prozac, said it would appeal the ruling, which if it stands would allow generic sales about two years earlier than expected. Shares of Lilly rose $1.25 to $76.25 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange thanks in part to a medical study that found that therapy incorporating Lilly's ReoPro agent can be more effective than Genentech Inc.'s clot-busting drug Activase in limiting heart damage after a heart attack.

AOL HALTS MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE: America Online Inc. pulled the plug on a search engine for digital music in the popular MP3 format, which the recording industry says has become a vehicle for piracy. The search engine was on a site belonging to Nullsoft, an AOL subsidiary that created and distributes Winamp, a popular MP3 player program. Nullsoft also posted Gnutella, a file-sharing program similar to Napster that lets users exchange files including digital music. AOL is acquiring Time Warner, which has an array of record labels.

PFIZER CEO TO RESIGN: William C. Steere, who led Pfizer Inc.'s ascent over the past decade to become the nation's largest drug manufacturer, will resign as chief executive at the end of this year and step down as chairman next April. Henry McKinnel, Pfizer's president and chief operating officer, will become the company's new chairman and CEO. Steere turned 64 in June and was widely expected to retire in the next year. The New York-based company requires executives to resign by their 65th birthday. Pfizer dipped 19 cents a share to close at $42.56.

FLORIDA HMO DIVISION UP FOR SALE: Foundation Health Systems Inc. said it has put its Florida HMO division up for sale. Foundation Health has 142,000 members statewide, including about 5,000 commercial members in the bay area as of March 30.

DISNEY EXECUTIVE SENTENCED: A former Disney Internet executive has been sentenced to nine months in home detention for crossing state lines with the intention of having sex with a minor he contacted by e-mail. Patrick J. Naughton was arrested in September 1999 after arranging to meet an e-mail correspondent who was actually an FBI agent pretending to be a 13-year-old girl. U.S. District Court Senior Judge Edward Rafeedie also gave Naughton a $20,000 fine and five years probation. Naughton said during trial that he believed his e-mail contact was an adult woman -- not a 13-year-old -- and that they were both playing out a sexual fantasy.

TIMES NAMES EXECUTIVE: Tony DiSalvo is the St. Peterburg Times' new Tampa advertising manager. For the last year, DiSalvo has been vice president of advertising at the Greenville News in South Carolina. But before that, he was advertising director of the Tampa Tribune from January 1996 to August 1999. DiSalvo, who is 50, will direct all retail and classified sales in the Times' Tampa advertising office.

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