Facebook talks rumored

Microsoft

Facebook talks rumored

Microsoft is mulling an investment in Facebook that would value the rapidly growing online hangout at $10 billion or more, The Wall Street Journal reported online Monday.

Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, The Journal said Microsoft is holding preliminary discussions that could culminate in a $300 million to $500 million investment, or a 5 percent stake, in Facebook, a privately held Palo Alto social-networking site.

Facebook and Microsoft declined to comment.

An outright sale of Facebook is considered unlikely. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's 23-year-old co-founder and chief executive, has repeatedly expressed his desire to remain independent.

If Facebook's talks with Microsoft heat up, it could draw online search leader Google to the negotiating table, too, analysts said.

Microsoft

Office 2008 for Mac pricing announced

Microsoft said it will release three versions of its Office 2008 for Mac suite in January.

Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition, which includes three licenses for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage, an e-mail/calendar/contacts program, will cost $150, Microsoft said.

A $400 version aimed at professionals who use Apple computers, simply called Office 2008 for Mac, includes the same programs as Home and Student, plus the ability to connect to a Windows Exchange server.

A third version, the $500 Special Media Edition, adds features to the $400 configuration, including Expression Media, a program that helps computer users organize and manipulate digital photos, video and other files.

DocuSign

Latest financing round nets $12M

The Seattle company whose electronic signature software is growing in use has signed up another investor and hauled in $12.4 million in funding.

DocuSign planned to announce today that Kirkland-based WestRiver Capital led the company's latest financing round. Existing investors Ignition Partners, Frazier Technology Ventures and Sigma Partners also participated.

DocuSign, which has seen rapid adoption of its eSignature service in the past year, plans to use the funds to grow its sales and marketing operations, including its network of partners, and invest in new products.

Aloha Airlines is joining its list of major clients.

Cell Therapeutics

Clinical trial to enroll 450

Cell Therapeutics said Monday it had begun a late-stage clinical trial to test the effect of its lead therapy, Xyotax, on women with nonsmall-cell lung cancer.

The trial, which will enroll 450 patients, will focus on women with premenopausal estrogen levels, the company said in a statement.

Based on previous trials, the company plans to apply for marketing authorization in Europe in the first half of 2008, the statement said.

Nike

Knight sells shares after school pledge

Phil Knight, the chairman of Nike, sold $116 million of the athletic-shoe maker's shares this month after he pledged money to his alma mater's sports program.

The Nike co-founder and chief executive officer until 2004 sold 1.98 million shares this month at prices ranging from $57 to $60.50 each, according to regulatory filings.

Knight promised last month to donate $100 million to the University of Oregon. His net worth was estimated at $9.8 billion by Forbes Magazine.

Knight held 6.95 million Class B shares as of Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. If his Class A shares were converted into Class B stock, he would have owned 22 percent of the publicly traded shares as of May 31, according to Nike's annual report.

Apple

Forecast pushes stock to new high

Apple shares rose to a record after Citi Investment Research said sales of Macintosh computers may beat estimates this quarter and iPhone purchases will surge.

Apple gained $4.13 to close at $148.28 Monday. The stock has doubled in the past year.

Orders for the newest models of the iMac personal computer are topping expectations, analyst Richard Gardner said. Apple also may see a bigger contribution than anticipated from the iPhone after a $200 price cut, he said.

Separately, Apple on Monday warned iPhone owners who have used unauthorized programs to unlock the cellular service feature of their handsets that they may end up with a phone that doesn't work after the company's next software update for it.

Since the iPhone debuted in June, hackers have posted a number of methods online to make it possible to use the iPhone on cellular networks other than AT&T.

Spirit Aerosystems

Still in running for Airbus factories

Airbus narrowed its choice of bidders for six factories it's selling from 11 suitors to five, including Spirit Aerosystems Holdings.

Spirit runs the former Boeing parts plant in Wichita, Kan., and supplies the cockpit and forward fuselage of the 787. Its U.K. plant supplies wing parts for the Airbus A320 and A380.

Factory buyers would share costs on the 250- to 350-seat A350 that Airbus plans to build to compete with Boeing's 787 and 777 models.

Nintendo

Market cap ranks No. 2 in Japan

Nintendo roared past Canon today to become Japan's second-most valuable company behind Toyota Motor, driven by its hot-selling Wii game console and DS handheld player.

Nintendo stock was up 2.6 percent in afternoon trading, bringing the company's market value to $72.6 billion, surpassing Canon's market capitalization of $71.5 billion.

Nintendo is still one-third of Toyota's market value.

EchoStar

$380 million deal for Sling Media

Satellite-TV provider said Monday night it will buy Sling Media in a deal that values the maker of the Slingbox device at $380 million.

The deal, in cash and EchoStar options, is expected to close by the end of 2007.

Sling Media makes devices that lets users watch their home TV signals on any Internet-connected computer.

American Home

Property-tax checks bounce

American Home Mortgage Investment bounced property-tax checks for some Maryland homeowners, local and state officials said Monday, and they have demanded an explanation from the bankrupt mortgage lender and servicer.

Maryland filed an inquiry with American Home Mortgage on Friday. The company has five days to respond, said Joseph Rooney, the deputy commissioner for Maryland's financial regulator.

New York and Washington state officials also are looking into bounced checks there.

Mortgage servicers typically collect property-tax payments each month with a borrower's mortgage payment. The taxes are placed in an escrow account and held until property-tax bills are due.

Compiled from The Associated Press and Seattle Times staff