Analyst: Xbox sales miss estimates

Pacific Northwest

Microsoft probably sold 1.3 million Xbox 360 video-game consoles since the introduction in November, missing analysts' estimates, Goldman, Sachs analyst Rick Sherlund said.

Sales may have reached 900,000 in North and South America, 300,000 in Europe and 100,000 in Asia, Sherlund said Tuesday in a note. That would fall short of Goldman's estimate of as many as 1.8 million units, he said.

The lag may indicate production problems, Sherlund said, adding that demand for the machine probably will outstrip supply for the next two quarters.

Microsoft

Windows patch due next week

Microsoft says it will be at least a week before it issues a fix to a recently discovered vulnerability that could let an attacker take control of an Internet-connected computer.

Microsoft said Tuesday it created a patch for the flaw in its Windows operating system but needs to test it first. It said it hopes to release the patch as part of its regular monthly security updates next Tuesday.

The Redmond company confirmed late last week that some people were trying to take advantage of a flaw in an element of Windows that is used to view images. If a user is tricked into viewing an image, such as on a malicious Web site or within an e-mail attachment, that person's computer could be attacked.

Microsoft said Tuesday its research indicates the attacks are not widespread.

Bothell biotechnology company Nastech Pharmaceutical named Philip Ranker its chief financial officer and corporate secretary Tuesday.

Ranker had filled both positions in an interim capacity since September. He replaced Gregory Weaver.

DS-system sales hit 10 million

Nintendo said Tuesday it has sold about 10 million of its Nintendo DS handheld game systems worldwide, including about 4 million in North America and more than 5 million in Japan.

Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo's U.S. headquarters in Redmond, said about 3 million of the handheld gaming gadgets were sold to North American consumers in 2005. That's on top of 1.2 million sold to North American consumers in 2004, following the system's late November launch.

Rival Sony said it has sold 3.2 million of its handheld game system, the PlayStation Portable, in North America between its March launch and mid-December. The company did not yet have sales figures through the end of 2005.

Nintendo also said Tuesday it sold 4.6 million of its other popular handheld gaming system, the Game Boy Advance, to North American consumers in 2005. That's a drop from 7.58 million in 2004.

Compiled from Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and Seattle Times business staff

$600 a share forecast for 2006

Google's new year is picking up where 2005 left off: with loftier expectations for the company's soaring stock and a feverish guessing game about the online search-engine leader's next big move.

Confident that Google will double in size during the next two years, Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy on Tuesday issued a report predicting the company's shares will hit $600 before 2006 is over.

The outlook lifted Google's shares $20.37 to close at $435.45 Tuesday.

The forecast makes Rashtchy the first prominent securities analyst to set a $600 target for Google's shares.

Creditors approve Chapter 11 exit

United Airlines' parent company has entered the homestretch of its more than three-year stay in bankruptcy, positioned to emerge from Chapter 11 next month now that it has won creditors' support for its reorganization.

United has some disputes to resolve before seeking a judge's final go-ahead at a Jan. 18-20 confirmation hearing, including one over its controversial proposal to give 400 top managers 11 percent of the new stock in the reorganized company.

But industry experts said Tuesday no significant threats to a February exit appear to remain after a wide majority of creditors voted for the reorganization plan late last week.

Computer glitch delays U.S. flights

A computer glitch delayed United Airlines' domestic flights up to 90 minutes Tuesday night.

The computer system controlling United's check-ins and reservations went down around 5 p.m. CST, airline spokeswoman Jean Medina said. It remained down five hours later, and airports were forced to check passengers in for flights manually, she said.

Medina said flights were delayed 60 to 90 minutes.

Ex-Putnam execs accused of fraud

Federal regulators have accused six former executives of Putnam Fiduciary Trust, the transfer agent for a big mutual-fund company, of defrauding several funds and a 401(k) plan client of $4 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday announced the civil lawsuit, filed Friday in Boston, where mutual-fund company Putnam Investments is based. The SEC did not act against Putnam Fiduciary Trust, citing cooperation.

At least four of the accused plan to contest the suit.

In January 2001, the SEC says, Putnam Fiduciary Trust was a day late investing certain assets of the 401(k) retirement plan of Cardinal Health, causing the plan to miss out on some $4 million in market gains. Because it was covered up, the scheme was not discovered until January 2004, according to the SEC.

Compiled from The Associated Press