Nastech Pharmaceuticals to cut jobs, shift strategy

Pacific Northwest

Nastech

Nastech Pharmaceuticals said Tuesday it will reduce expenses by eliminating jobs, focusing on midstage development programs, and spinning off an emerging technology subsidiary called MDRNA.

The Bothell company, whose stock plummeted last week after Procter & Gamble pulled out of a development partnership, said it would concentrate on clinical programs related to obesity, diabetes and osteoporosis treatments.

It did not disclose how many jobs would be cut. As of Jan. 31, Nastech had 197 full-time employees, according to a regulatory filing.

The company says its cash, cash equivalents and investments amounted to $58.1 million at the end of the third quarter.

Nastech said it will seek independent funding for MDRNA's research, which involves RNAi therapeutics.

Qantas Airways

Airbus, Boeing split big order

Qantas Airways, Australia's biggest airline, said it will buy 188 narrow-body aircraft to expand its short-haul fleet for domestic routes and flights in Asia.

The airline will buy 68 Airbus A320 and A321 planes with options and purchase rights for 40 more, Qantas said today.

It will also buy 31 Boeing 737-800 planes with options and purchase rights for 49 more aircraft.

No prices were disclosed.

Chief Executive Geoff Dixon wants the expanded fleet to help defend the 65 percent of the Australian domestic market controlled by his brands Qantas and low-cost carrier Jetstar.

The first A321s will be delivered in February, while the Boeing 737s will arrive during a six-year period starting in early 2009.

Boeing

Dutch airline orders 7 planes

Boeing has finalized an order from low-cost Dutch airline transavia.com for seven single-aisle 737 jets, plus options for three additional planes, the companies said Tuesday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Boeing said the order was worth $523 million at list prices. Based on market price estimates by aircraft-valuation firm Avitas, after standard discounts the seven airplanes are worth about $318 million.

M:Metrics

New service tracks mobile advertising

Seattle-based M:Metrics, which tracks behavior in the mobile industry, plans to announce today it has created a service that tracks advertising on cellphones in the U.S.

The M:AdTracker monitors mobile ads, such as banners that appear on the mobile Web, and then categorizes them by industry, company, products and services.

"As advertisers are increasingly featuring mobile into their ad buys, they are clamoring for data about who's advertising what, where and when," said M:Metrics' Chief Executive Will Hodgman.

Hodgman, who previously founded AdRelevance, a company that measured ads on the Internet, said there's already been interesting findings; for instance, more than a dozen Fortune 100 companies are advertising with an emphasis on Web sites, TV shows, movies and books.

Microsoft

2 Windows fixes issued; 1 is critical

Microsoft issued two security fixes in a regular monthly update Tuesday, including a dangerous bug in all versions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft gave the serious security fix its most urgent "critical" rating. Hackers could exploit a vulnerability using Internet Explorer 7, and possibly other programs, and take over a user's computer for a variety of nefarious purposes.

The other fix, which Microsoft gave the second-highest "important" rating, is for computers running versions of Windows 2000 Server and Windows Server 2003. Hackers could exploit the flaw in Microsoft's program to redirect Internet traffic from legitimate sites to fake ones.

Zillow.com

Ad deal reached with newspapers

Seattle-based Zillow.com said Tuesday that 11 newspaper publishers have forged an advertising partnership with the online real-estate information company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Starting in the first half of next year, newspapers' ad-sales teams will give advertisers the chance to buy home-for-sale listings and open-house notices on Zillow, in addition to the regular classifieds on the papers' newsprint. The newspaper and the Web company will share revenue from the Zillow listings.

The newspaper companies — with 282 newspapers — are Hearst Corp., Lee Enterprises, Media General, MediaNews Group, Morris Communications, Paddock Publications, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The E.W. Scripps Co., Times-Shamrock Communications, the Journal Register Co. and Day Publishing.

Nation and World

Yahoo

Chinese journalists' lawsuit settled

Yahoo, reeling from a growing backlash over human rights and its China operations, settled a lawsuit Tuesday that accused it of illegally helping the Chinese government jail and torture two journalists.

Neither side disclosed details other than to agree Yahoo would pay the attorneys' fees of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning and the family member who sued on their behalf. Yahoo also said it would "provide financial, humanitarian and legal support to these families."

It marked a dramatic change of heart for Yahoo, which had steadfastly maintained it had to comply with a request from Chinese authorities to share information about the online activities of the two Chinese nationals.

But Yahoo's cooperation turned into a public-relations nightmare over the last week after irate federal lawmakers lambasted it on Capitol Hill. Bank of America

Shares rise despite $3 billion write-off

Bank of America said Tuesday it will take a $3 billion debt-related write-down in the fourth quarter and warned losses could grow.

The bank said it will also spend about $600 million to support a group of its money- market funds because of "uncertainty around the value" of the funds' investments.

Despite the announcement, Bank of America shares rose $2.29, or 5.2 percent, to $46.27 Tuesday. Investors were likely heartened by Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Joe Price's comments about Bank of America's investment in China Construction Bank, which he said had posted a gain on paper of more than $30 billion.

Wal-Mart

Quarterly earnings beat forecasts

A year after its worst holiday sales season ever, Wal-Mart may rebound to have a good season after finding the right mix of merchandise and marketing to complement its refocus on low prices.

A whiff of this showed up when the nation's largest retailer posted third-quarter earnings Tuesday of $2.86 billion, an 8 percent rise that beat Wall Street expectations.

The company earned 70 cents a share, up from 62 cents a share a year ago. The 70 cents includes an after-tax gain equal to 1 cent a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast earnings of 67 cents a share on revenue of $91.67 billion.

Wal-Mart had revenue of $91.95 billion in the period ended Oct. 31, up 8.8 percent from $84.47 billion a year ago.

Wal-Mart shares spiked $2.65, or 6.1 percent, to close at $45.97 Tuesday.

Energy

Oil prices fall; rise in supplies reported

Oil prices that last week seemed on an inexorable path toward $100 a barrel slid more than $3 to the $91 level Tuesday after the International Energy Agency cut its demand forecasts and said crude supplies are rising.

Prices also fell after diplomats said Iran has handed over blueprints key to its nuclear program, meeting a United Nations demand and potentially defusing a standoff with the West.

Light, sweet crude for December delivery fell $3.45 to settle at $91.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Only last Thursday, crude prices traded as high as $98.62, a record, and appeared headed for $100.

Google / DoubleClick

EU investigating acquisition deal

European Union antitrust regulators launched an in-depth probe Tuesday into Google's $3.1 billion bid for online ad broker DoubleClick, saying an initial investigation showed the deal would raise competition concerns.

The EU's executive commission set an April 2 deadline by which to reach a final decision on the deal, which has raised concerns by Google rivals Microsoft and Yahoo — both of which fear it will give the Internet search leader too much power in online advertising.

The European Commission described Google and DoubleClick as "the leading providers" of online advertising space and services as well as ad-serving technology, and said its probe would examine whether the deal "could lead to anticompetitive restrictions for competitors operating in these markets and thus harm consumers."

Compiled from Seattle Times staff, Reuters and The Associated Press