Business: Loose change

TURN IN A FRIEND: In Miami and in its hometown of Charlotte, N.C., First Union bank has been offering some of its customers a $100 bounty to refer family or friends who end up opening an account by year-end. "What our clients are providing us are warm leads," a bank executive said.

ORGANIZED AIRPORTS: Labor groups are trying to organize concession workers and others at Los Angeles International Airport. Jono Shaffer, an AFL-CIO organizer, says L.A. "is blazing a trail" for unions at other airports.

WALT'S GARAGE SALE: The Walt Disney Co. is hawking some of its corporate souvenirs on a Web site operated in conjunction with eBay. Among the items for auction: letters from an old Disneyland marquee. Tickets to the November premiere of its live-action film 102 Dalmatians. And costumes and props from the original Mickey Mouse Club.

PITY THE CHIPMUNK: Accusing Universal Studios of destroying "an American icon," Ross Bagdasarian Jr. has sued the entertainment company for failing to keep its alleged promises to create new movies or TV shows starring Alvin and the Chipmunks. The fast-talking cartoon characters were created by his late father.

WHAT GOES AROUND: The Securities and Exchange Commission says two Southern California men fraudulently raised at least $156-million in a Ponzi scheme, then lost about $10-million when they invested some of their ill-gotten gains in someone else's bogus investment.

COSTLY KEEPSAKE: Even by Silicon Valley standards, the modest bungalow and garage in Palo Alto, Calif., seemed pricey at $1.7-million. But Hewlett-Packard Co. coughed up the money to get title to the legendary garage where its founders started the electronics company.

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