Boeing considering selling Connexion, article says

Boeing is considering selling its in-flight Connexion Internet venture or shutting it down, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal.

The Chicago aerospace company has reached out to a number of commercial-satellite operators and other potential suitors who might be interested in buying the business or becoming a major partner, according to people familiar with the situation.

The most detailed discussion have involved Luxembourg's SES Global, the largest international commercial-satellite operator, the Journal story said. Boeing's representatives also have made preliminary approaches to at least two other satellite firms: Inmarsat of London, which operates a rival mobile-broadband service, and Loral Space & Communications of New York. The three companies declined to comment, the Journal said.

Cell Therapeutics

Company signs financing deal

Biotech drug maker Cell Therapeutics said Wednesday it signed a financing agreement with Société Générale Group in which the French banking firm will purchase up to $72 million in new company shares to sell on the Italian market.

The company entered a step-up equity financing agreement, a Société Générale financing product that is much like a capital increase offering the flexibility of a line of credit.

Under terms of the agreement, Société Générale will buy up to 45 million euros ($55 million) of Cell Therapeutics' new common shares over the next 24 months, with the option to increase the amount to 60 million euros ($72 million).

Coldwater Creek

Reports should restore compliance

Women's clothing retailer Coldwater Creek said Wednesday that it should be back in compliance with Nasdaq listing requirements, after it filed amended financial reports from fiscal 2005 with securities regulators.

The retailer said it filed amendments to its 2005 annual 10-K report and quarterly 10-Q reports for the second and third quarters of fiscal 2005 to reflect previously announced restated results for those periods.

Coldwater Creek also said it filed an amendment to its first-quarter 10-Q to include officer certifications required by Sarbanes-Oxley rules. The company had omitted the certifications in the original filing.

On Tuesday, the company said it was notified by Nasdaq that it was not in compliance with listing rules. It was granted a hearing before a Nasdaq panel to appeal the judgment, which delayed a possible delisting.

2020 gas emissions to be 40% less

Forest-products producer Weyerhaeuser on Wednesday said it plans to use biomass fuel to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions 40 percent by 2020.

Biomass fuel is made of bark and lignin, the substance that binds wood fibers.

Federal Way-based Weyerhaeuser said its pulp and paper mills currently pull 72 percent of their energy from biomass. Increasing its use of biomass fuel will temper the effects of volatile oil and gas prices, the company said.

The reduction in greenhouse gases will be measured relative to Weyerhaeuser's emissions in 2000.

Varig

Airline suspends flights to 10 cities

Brazil's Varig, operating in bankruptcy for a year, suspended flights to 10 international destinations including New York, Los Angeles and Madrid, after U.S. courts forced it to ground planes.

The airline said it will continue service to some cities such as Miami; Frankfurt, Germany; London; and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain on Wednesday ruled Varig must pay $75 million to aircraft-leasing companies by Friday or ground 25 more planes the owners sued to get back for nonpayment. Drain, who has jurisdiction over the U.S. leases, extended an order blocking seizure of the aircraft, lifting the threat the carrier would shut down immediately.

Varig is operating 25 aircraft out of a fleet of 60, said a representative of an employee group trying to buy the airline.

Boeing

Shanghai Airlines joins repair venture

Boeing, Shanghai Airport Group and Shanghai Airlines plan to set up an $85 million aircraft repair and maintenance center.

Boeing will own 60 percent of Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services, Shanghai Airport will hold 25 percent and Shanghai Airlines will have 15 percent, the airline said Wednesday.

Deal to distribute Google Toolbar

Adobe Systems said late Wednesday it has signed an agreement with Google to distribute the Google Toolbar with various Adobe products.

Financial terms and length of the agreement weren't disclosed, though Adobe called it a "multiyear" deal.

Adobe said the estimated revenue from the agreement for fiscal 2006 was factored into its previously announced financial targets.

As a part of the pact, Adobe and Google will launch availability of the Google Toolbar with downloads of Adobe's Macromedia Shockwave Player, starting immediately.

The Google Toolbar will be offered as part of the Shockwave Player installation process for Window's Internet Explorer. It will also be offered as part of other Adobe product installations in the future.

EADS

France will help troubled company

The French government will take "all necessary measures" to end the crisis at Airbus parent EADS, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Wednesday, a week after the company's stock plunged due to further delays to the A380 superjumbo.

"There are urgent decisions to be taken and they will be taken," Villepin told French lawmakers.

"The government has decided to take all necessary measures so that EADS gets on top of its production delays and supplies its customers under the best possible conditions."

The French government owns 15 percent of European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. But under current company statutes, operational decisions are left to the group's private shareholders, the French defense and media group Lagardère and German carmaker DaimlerChrysler.

J.D. Power & Associates

Midsize SUVs still idling on car lots

Consumer demand for new midsize sport-utility vehicles, a market that includes some of the auto industry's most popular models, appears to be continuing a slide that began this year, J.D. Power and Associates said Wednesday.

The segment, made up of traditional midsize SUVs, records the second-highest days-to-turn rate among the 26 segments tracked by the auto-information company. The rate refers to how long vehicles sit on dealership lots.

J.D. Power used real-time retail transaction data from its Power Information Network that included only retail transactions. Fleet sales were excluded to better reflect consumer demand for new vehicles.

Compiled from Bloomberg News and The Associated Press