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Northwest Digest
Audit firm to quit Web music service

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It is unusual for an auditor to resign from a company, particularly in the middle of its fiscal year. Loudeye said the resignation was not the result of any disagreement over accounting principles, financial-statement disclosures or auditing procedures. In fact, Loudeye said, it was also planning to end the relationship.

"The resignation is in no way a reflection of our current operating results," said Larry Madden, Loudeye's chief financial officer, in a statement yesterday. A PricewaterhouseCoopers spokesman said the company would not comment.

The Graw Group

Networking startup lands $4.75 million

BELLEVUE — The Graw Group said yesterday it received $4.75 million in venture capital from two high-profile investors: August Capital, whose partners worked for Technology Venture Investors, the original Microsoft investors; and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The Seattle-based startup was founded by well-known entrepreneurs Jeremy Jaech and Ted Johnson.

They plan to launch the Graw Group with a new name and a trial in Seattle this fall. Currently all they are saying is that the group's product allows communities and families to interact in a manner unlike social networking sites do today.

By year end, they expect to hire 20 people for a total of about 30 employees.

Jaech and Johnson also co-founded Seattle-based Visio, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2000 for stock valued at $1.6 billion. In addition, Jaech co-founded Aldus, which developed the software program PageMaker and was acquired by Adobe in 1994.

Boeing
 
Latest 737 orders include five for Navy

Boeing won orders for five 737 aircraft from the U.S. Navy and two more from an unidentified customer.

The orders, disclosed on Boeing's Web site, are worth $287 million based on the low-end of list prices that don't include discounts often given to customers. Boeing has 82 orders this year, down from 146 in the same period last year.

The orders from the Navy are the initial purchases under the contract Boeing won last month to develop a submarine-hunting plane based on the 737. The Navy plans to spend $44 billion on the program to purchase 109 planes, which will replace its aging fleet of P-3 turboprop aircraft.

Meanwhile, a Singapore Airlines Cargo official said the airline plans to convert up to five Boeing passenger aircraft into freighters and is considering adding the Airbus A380 freighter to its fleet.

The cargo unit of Singapore Airlines will convert four or five Boeing 747-400 aircraft, probably retired from its parent, said Sudheer Raghavan, senior vice president of sales and marketing. "We are evaluating the Airbus A380, but it's not a decision we feel compelled to make so soon," Raghavan said at a seminar in Singapore. The A380 freighter offers about 150 tons of cargo capacity, compared with about 110 tons for the 747-400, he added.

Primus

Transaction delays bring warning of loss

SEATTLE — Primus Knowledge Solutions warned that delays in completing sales transactions would cause it to report a quarterly loss.

The Seattle company said it expects a loss of 9 cents to 12 cents a share for the second quarter, instead of the one-penny-per-share profit predicted by analysts. In 2003 the company posted a loss of 14 cents a share for the second quarter.

Primus said revenue for the quarter will be about $5.7 million, a 54 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. .

Primus sells software that helps companies run call centers, help desks, Web self-service and other means of handling customer contacts.

Labor market

Oregon payrolls rise; jobless rate the same

GRESHAM, Ore. — The Oregon unemployment rate did not budge in June, but payrolls increased statewide, officials said yesterday.

The June rate was 6.9 percent, essentially unchanged from 6.8 percent in May, but payrolls increased by 16,400 jobs in June, said state labor economist Art Ayre.

In Washington state, the unemployment rate dropped to a seasonally adjusted 6.1 percent in May from April's 6.3 percent; the June jobless rate will be released Tuesday.

Information from Seattle Times business staff, Bloomberg News and The Associated Press is included in this report.