Alaska Air plans renovation at Sea-Tac

Alaska Airlines plans to spend $18 million renovating its check-in area to reduce wait times at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport by the end of 2007.

The remodel, which includes check-in for Horizon Air passengers, will replace ticket counters with more open areas that feature kiosks for check-in and baggage checking.

Alaska introduced the concept in 2004 at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, where it says it has cut in half the average check-in time for customers. Alaska even has a patent on the concept, which it calls the "Airport of the Future."

The renovation is meant to improve productivity and efficiency, allowing the airline to increase its presence at Sea-Tac without adding more airport real estate, Alaska Chief Executive Bill Ayer told investors during a conference call in July.

Real estate

Grocery-store site to become condos

The former site of a Safeway supermarket on Seattle's Capitol Hill is being transformed into 141 upscale condominiums.

Called the Brix, the six-story project is being developed by Schnitzer Northwest, a commercial-property development firm that's begun adding residential projects to its portfolio. The architect is Mithun, the Seattle firm that developed REI's award-winning flagship store near downtown.

Located at the corner of Broadway East and East Mercer Street, the brick-faced building will offer 35 floor plans, including townhouses and lofts, set around an interior courtyard. Prices start at $314,000. Completion is expected in mid-2008.

Micron Technology

Earnings cut to reflect settlement

Micron Technology, the biggest U.S. memory chip maker, said it cut previously reported first-quarter earnings by as much as $80 million to reflect a settlement resolving claims it conspired to fix chip prices.

The accord resolves private antitrust lawsuits filed over U.S. sales of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, from 1999 to 2002. The claims were brought by manufacturers and individuals alleging that a price-fixing conspiracy drove up costs for the chips, a memory component used in personal computers, laptops and video game consoles.

"It is expected that the settlement will result" in a reduction "in an amount not to exceed $80 million," Boise, Idaho-based Micron said Wednesday in a statement.

Nation and World

Hewlett-Packard

Investigator charged in spying

A private investigator accused of posing as a journalist to access the reporter's private phone records as part of the boardroom spying scandal at Hewlett-Packard was charged Wednesday with federal identity theft and conspiracy charges, prosecutors said.

Bryan Wagner is accused of using the Social Security number of the unidentified journalist to illegally gain access to the phone logs, according to the criminal charges filed in San Jose, Calif., federal court by U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan's office.

Wagner is also accused of conspiring to illegally obtain and transmit personal information on HP directors, journalists and employees as part of the computer and printer maker's crusade to ferret out the source of boardroom leaks to the media.

Wagner is one of five people who were criminally charged in California state court for their alleged roles in the ill-fated spying probe at Palo Alto-based HP, the world's largest technology company.

Former HP Chairwoman Patricia Dunn, former HP ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker and three outside investigators — Ronald DeLia, Matthew DePante and Wagner — all have pleaded not guilty in Santa Clara County Superior Court to four charges each of identity theft, fraud and conspiracy.

Nintendo

Profit forecast boosts shares

Shares of Nintendo, the world's biggest maker of handheld game players, rose as brokerages including UBS and Nikko Citigroup upgraded the stock after the company raised its full-year profit forecast.

Nintendo gained 2.8 percent in early trading today in Tokyo. UBS analyst Atsuko Kaneko increased the stock's rating to "buy" from "neutral," while Nikko Citigroup upgraded the company to "buy" from "hold."

The company Wednesday increased its full-year profit forecast by 20 percent on sales of DS portable devices and increased targets for Wii games. The company is also making inroads in home consoles after it sold twice as many Wii players as Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan last year, said Enterbrain, a Tokyo-based research firm.

"Nintendo achieved a dominant position in the game industry and the earnings prospect would be solid if the company maintains competitiveness in its products," said Koji Nakatsuka, who helps oversee $1.5 billion in assets at RCM Japan unit of Allianz Global Investors Japan in Tokyo.

Net income will rise to $1 billion for the year to March 31, compared with an October estimate for $834 million, the Kyoto-based company said Wednesday. Nintendo, with U.S. headquarters in Redmond, reported $820 million profit a year earlier.

Home Depot

Shareholders seek block on severance

A group of shareholders of Home Depot on Wednesday tried to block, at least for now, the world's largest home-improvement-store chain from paying former Chief Executive Bob Nardelli any more of his $210 million severance package.

The request for a temporary restraining order was made in Fulton County Superior Court by the shareholders as part of a previously filed lawsuit alleging that the Atlanta-based company overpaid senior executives and backdated stock options in violation of their fiduciary duties.

There was no immediate ruling on the request. Home Depot spokesman Jerry Shields said the company had not received the motion and couldn't comment.

The company announced last week that Nardelli had resigned after six years at Home Depot's helm amid a furor over his pay and Home Depot's lagging stock price. Nardelli was replaced by vice chairman Frank Blake.

As part of the resignation, the company said Nardelli would receive a severance package worth about $210 million.

Home Depot's board voted Monday to require that in the future two-thirds of its independent directors approve any compensation granted to the chief executive.

Airbus

Arms exec picked to head A350 effort

European plane maker Airbus has hired one of Europe's top arms executives to head its project to build a rival to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.

Airbus on Wednesday appointed Didier Evrard, head of product lines at European missiles maker MBDA as well as director of its French subsidiary, to head the A350 program as the jetliner enters a six-year industrial-development phase. Airbus parent EADS — European Aeronautic Defence & Space — owns 37.5 percent of MBDA.

Evrard "is an absolute operations man; he has huge attention to detail," said a source close to MBDA.

Genentech

Biotech bellwether earnings up 75%

Genentech said Wednesday that strong demand for its cancer-fighting drugs fueled a 75 percent profit increase as the biotechnology bellwether shook off doubts its tremendous growth spurt over the last few years was slowing significantly.

The South San Francisco-based company reported it earned $594 million, or 55 cents per share, during the three months ending in December compared with $339.2 million, or 31 cents per share, at the same time in 2005.

Revenue for the period totaled $2.7 billion, a 38 percent increase from the previous year.

Eastman Kodak

Imaging unit sold to Canadian firm

Eastman Kodak is selling its health-imaging business, created after the discovery of X-rays in 1895, to Canadian investment firm Onex for up to $2.55 billion as the picture-taking pioneer bets its future on digital photography and commercial printing.

Kodak said Wednesday it plans to pay down about $1.15 billion in debt and funnel the rest of the proceeds into digital ventures as profits from its storied film business rapidly erode.

Onex Healthcare, a subsidiary of Canada's largest buyout firm, will pay $2.35 billion in cash and up to $200 million more if its investors realize an internal rate of return of more than 25 percent. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.

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