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Business Digest
Second-quarter IPOs most since 2000

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The 24 IPOs raised a total $1.3 billion. The one venture-backed company in Washington state that went public was Seattle-based Blue Nile.

Acquisitions and mergers also were strong in the second quarter: 88 venture-backed U.S. companies completed such transactions for a total of $5.5 billion.

Currently, there are 48 more companies registered to go public, according to VentureOne. Most of the public offerings completed in the quarter were in the health-care sector, while information-technology dominated most of the mergers and acquisitions.

Apple Computer

No back-to-school sales for iMac

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Computer said yesterday its next-generation iMac desktop computer will be delayed until September and that it has stopped taking orders for the current iMac.

The delay means that Apple will miss the crucial back-to-school season for the new iMac. Apple earlier this week held its annual developer conference and it often announces new products at the gathering.

Verizon Wireless

Carrier agrees to buy Qwest wireless assets

Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile-telephone carrier, agreed to buy Qwest Communications' wireless assets for $418 million, adding call capacity in cities including Seattle, Denver and Phoenix.
 
The agreement includes airwave rights in parts of 14 states covering 30.8 million people, and cellular towers and network-switch centers, Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Nancy Stark said. Also yesterday, Verizon said it overstated the tally of long-distance lines it serves by 1.5 million because of a flaw in the way it accounts for new and discontinued subscribers.

The company, which had reported 17.6 million long-distance lines at the end of March, has been expanding the interstate-calling division to compensate for losses in the local unit. The company would have reported "about" 16 million long-distance lines had it adjusted for the miscounting,

Goldman Sachs

Comments cost firm $2 million

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $2 million to settle U.S. regulators' allegations that it improperly tried to spur interest in four Asian share sales, including one in which it told investors to "TAKE A GOOOOOOOD LOOK" at PetroChina.

The Securities and Exchange Commission claimed that Goldman, the No. 3 securities firm, sent e-mails to investors with details of PetroChina's $2.9 billion sale before the initial public offering in April 2000 was cleared by the agency. Beijing-based PetroChina is China's biggest oil producer.

Southwest Airlines

Flight attendants' pay may take off

Southwest Airlines flight attendants would become the best paid in the industry under a tentative six-year agreement that boosts compensation, including stock options, by an average of 31 percent, their union said.

The Dallas-based company's 7,400 flight attendants will vote on the proposal from July 16 to July 30, Transport Workers Union Local 556 said in a statement.

Compiled from Times staff, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and Reuters