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Business Digest
Woodinville stone-company owner buys Mission Ridge

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Larry Scrivanich bought the 2,000-acre ski area near Wenatchee from Harbor Resorts, which also owns the Stevens Pass and Schweitzer Mountain ski parks. Harbor Resorts, a division of Seattle's Harbor Properties, did not disclose the price yesterday.

It is the first foray into the ski market for Scrivanich, who owns rock quarries in Washington and Idaho and Scrivanich Natural Stone, which sells gravel, sand, landscaping stones and granite.

Harbor said it decided to sell Mission Ridge, which attracts about 100,000 skiers a year, because it no longer fit into the company's business plan.

Microsoft to pay $18 million to settle lawsuits in two states

SAN FRANCISCO — Microsoft will pay $18.3 million to settle separate consumer lawsuits in North and South Dakota over allegations it violated antitrust and unfair-competition laws, resulting in higher prices for consumers.

The settlements were part of a six-state, $200 million resolution of antitrust claims. The deal, announced last month, didn't disclose payments in each state's case. North Dakota's settlement is worth $9 million; South Dakota's is worth $9.3 million, Microsoft said yesterday.

Microsoft has agreed to pay a total of about $1.55 billion in settlements in 10 states where suits accused it of using its Windows computer-operating-system monopoly to gouge consumers. Five states' suits are pending, and those in 17 others have been dismissed.

Consumers in the North and South Dakota case will receive vouchers toward the purchase of any manufacturer's software.

Amgen drug aids psoriasis patients, study indicates

SEATTLE — A study being published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows Enbrel, Amgen's hit rheumatoid-arthritis drug, was able to significantly clear up skin lesions within 12 weeks for many patients with psoriasis.

The study, in 652 patients, showed 49 percent of patients on a high dose of Enbrel had lesions clear up or almost clear up by week 12. After six months, more than 60 percent of patients had clear or almost clear skin. Side effects mainly consisted of injection-site reactions.

Based on the study, Amgen is seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market Enbrel as a treatment for psoriasis.

Amgen's rival in psoriasis, Genentech, had a competing study published in the same issue of the journal. Genentech said that in a study of 597 patients treated with its drug, Raptiva, more than half had a significant improvement in the signs and symptoms of the disease after 12 weeks, and improvement continued through 24 weeks. It said after 12 weeks on the higher of two doses, 28 percent of patients had their skin lesions clear up or mostly clear up.

Nation/World

Former Kmart executives ran up personal charges, suit says

DETROIT — Six former Kmart executives charged the company for nannies, luxury cars and private chauffeurs even as the discount retailer fought a losing battle against bankruptcy, creditors said in a lawsuit.

The suit, filed Tuesday by the Kmart Creditor Trust, alleges former Chief Executive and Chairman Chuck Conaway, former President Mark Schwartz and the four others cost Kmart more than $1 billion in personal and business expenses through poor management.

The lawsuit claims the defendants "engaged in a pattern of corporate waste at a time when, to say the least, Kmart could ill afford it." The suit also alleges the executives concealed Kmart's deteriorating condition from company directors.

Credit-counseling company sued by federal regulators

WASHINGTON — Federal regulators filed their first lawsuit against a credit-counseling company yesterday, charging that industry giant AmeriDebt used deceptive marketing to bilk hundreds of thousands of customers.

AmeriDebt touts itself as "the friend of consumers in crisis," but the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged the company hid fees and did not educate people about getting out of debt. The FTC, which filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md., also claimed the company falsely described itself as nonprofit.

AmeriDebt attorney Zynda Sellers disputed the FTC's characterization of the company.

PeopleSoft extends refund plan; merger may derail

NEW YORK — PeopleSoft is reinstating money-back guarantees for customers of its corporate software, even as a judge considers a legal challenge to the program, which makes it more expensive for Oracle to buy the company.

The program promises to pay customers two to five times their software-licensing fees if PeopleSoft is acquired and certain conditions are not met. It had $807 million in liabilities as of Sept. 30.

The Pleasanton, Calif., company decided Monday to extend the refund program until Dec. 31, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The program, introduced in June to entice customers despite a hostile bid from Oracle, had expired in October.

Oracle has asked a Delaware judge to block the program and threatened to drop its $7.3 billion bid for PeopleSoft if it isn't revoked.

Magazine hires ex-analyst to cover Stewart trial

NEW YORK — The online magazine Slate has hired former stock analyst Henry Blodget to write about the trial of Martha Stewart, the magazine said yesterday.

Blodget, who settled charges from regulators over his stock ratings during the Internet boom, will monitor the legal proceedings against Stewart, said Ed Finn, an assistant editor at the magazine.

Stewart is facing charges of securities fraud and lying to investigators. On Tuesday, a federal judge declined to dismiss two of the charges, two months ahead of the trial.

As part of a settlement with regulators, Blodget, a former analyst at Merrill Lynch, agreed to pay $4 million in fines and penalties and to be banned from the securities industry.

Judge won't delay hearing for WorldCom's Ebbers

OKLAHOMA CITY — For the second time, an Oklahoma judge refused a prosecution request to delay a preliminary hearing set for Dec. 1 for former WorldCom chief Bernie Ebbers, charged with violating state securities laws.

Attorney General Drew Edmondson said Judge James Paddleford's ruling yesterday may force him to dismiss the charges against Ebbers and refile them later in order to keep an agreement with federal prosecutors in New York who are investigating the WorldCom scandal.

Reid Weingarten, Ebbers' attorney, said Edmondson's attempts to delay the hearing were evidence of a weak case and not a conflict with the scheduled Feb. 1 trial in New York of Scott Sullivan, former chief financial officer of the company now known as MCI.

Charles Schwab Corp. to buy banking group

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Charles Schwab Corp., the world's largest discount broker, yesterday said it agreed to acquire SoundView Technology Group, a research and investment-banking firm, for about $324 million.

The deal will allow San Francisco-based Schwab to combine SoundView's trading platform and execution operations with the operations of Schwab's subsidiary, Schwab Capital Markets.

SoundView, of Old Greenwich, Conn., is focused on the technology sector.

Schwab Capital Markets, based in Jersey City, makes markets in more than 11,000 stocks.

The combined business will be named Schwab SoundView Capital Markets.

Compiled by Seattle Times business staff, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and Dow Jones Newswires

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company