Amazon invests in billing service

Pacific Northwest

Amazon.com has made an investment in Bill Me Later, a service that allows consumers to make purchases online without using a credit card. Terms weren't disclosed

Amazon said in a statement Tuesday that it will make Bill Me Later's service available on its Web site. Seattle-based Amazon is the world's biggest online retailer.

Microsoft

Office 2007 update beats release target

Microsoft said Tuesday that it has released the first major update of its Office 2007 productivity software at least one month ahead of its projected target.

The software maker said Office 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) will crash less, is easier to use and is more secure than the original program that was released to consumers in January.

Microsoft had said it planned to release Office 2007 SP1 in early 2008, but the company finished updating the software sooner than it expected.

Microsoft released Office 2007 to large businesses in November 2006 and more broadly in January. The programs helped fuel a more than 20 percent increase in sales at the company's Business Division last quarter. Still, some large customers prefer to wait for the first service pack before adopting new Microsoft software.

Microsoft

Company filing anti-piracy suits

Microsoft has announced legal action aimed at counterfeiting and software piracy in 22 countries.

The company said Tuesday that it is filing 52 lawsuits and referring 22 cases to local law-enforcement agencies. Fifteen of the lawsuits involve what Microsoft says is a counterfeiting syndicate that was broken up earlier this year in China.

The legal actions are aimed at resellers accused of selling counterfeit Microsoft products in various online marketplaces.

Microsoft also is releasing a guide to help consumers spot and avoid counterfeit software in online shopping.

Cell Therapeutics

Firm: Drug shows fewer side effects

Cell Therapeutics said Tuesday that non-Hodgkins lymphoma patients treated with its pixantrone experimental therapy suffered less-severe side effects, including fevers and infections, than those treated with standard drugs.

The preliminary findings, presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting, come from an continuing midstage clinical trial.

The company also reported that there were three deaths within a month of the last dose of study treatment among patients treated with pixantrone, while no deaths were reported among those treated with a standard therapy.

The Seattle-based company's shares closed Tuesday at $2.48, up 13 cents or 5.5 percent.

Nation & World

Citigroup

Troubled bank names new CEO

Citigroup named Vikram Pandit, the head of its investment-banking business, as chief executive Tuesday, after searching five weeks for someone to restore the bank's profitability and reputation.

The banking company named Sir Win Bischoff, who has been Citi's acting CEO, as its chairman. He replaces former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who had stepped into the role when former CEO and Chairman Charles Prince was ousted last month.

Pandit, 50, ran a hedge fund bought by Citi earlier this year, is seen as a careful, decisive investment banker — qualities Citi needs after the revelation that Citi's write-downs of soured mortgages could amount to as much as $17.5 billion by the end of the year.

Bischoff, meanwhile, has led Citi's European businesses, answering many shareholders' complaints that Pandit does not have the overseas experience to guide the sprawling bank's operations in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Kroger

Profit climbs 18%; gasoline sales hurt

Kroger, owner of Fred Meyer stores and QFC supermarkets, reported Tuesday its third-quarter profit jumped 18 percent on strong sales, but profit margins were hurt by sales of gasoline outside many of its nationwide grocery chains.

Shares slid more than 5 percent after Kroger reported a drop in fuel margins in its third fiscal quarter and only slightly raised its earnings outlook for the full year.

Kroger earned $253.8 million, or 37 cents per share, for the quarter ended Nov. 10, up from $214.7 million, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Kroger shares fell $1.87, or 6.6 percent, to close at $26.47 Tuesday.

H&R Block

Much larger loss expected in 2Q

H&R Block, the nation's largest tax preparer, delayed its second-quarter earnings Tuesday to give its new auditors time to review the numbers.

But it said it expected a much larger loss as the company's mortgage business continues to drag it down.

A preliminary report said H&R Block expected a net loss of $502.3 million, or $1.55 per share, for the quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with a loss of $156.5 million, or 49 cents per share, during the same period a year ago.

Of that loss, $366.2 million, or $1.13 per share, came from discontinued operations, including much of its Option One Mortgage, which has suffered as an increase in borrower defaults and the drying up of credit markets has caused dozens of lenders to disappear.

H&R Block said losses from continuing operations would amount to $136.1 million, or 42 cents per share. Analysts had expected a loss of 35 cents per share on continuing operations.

H&R Block shares lost 65 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $19.30 in trading Tuesday.

Dell

First tablet PC goes on sale soon

Dell, the second-largest personal-computer maker, plans to sell its first pen- and finger-controlled machine this month to attract more mobile users.

The Latitude XT tablet has a 12.1-inch screen and costs $2,499, said Glenn Keels, Dell's director of commercial-product marketing. The machine weighs 3.6 pounds and has a battery life of almost five hours.

The computer operates by touch, using electrical impulses rather than pressure to activate the screen. The product, which also has a keyboard, is targeted at health and government workers, as well as educators and insurance adjusters.

Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell, who demonstrated the PC at a technology conference in San Francisco last month, is trying to bolster the company's sales to businesses, which account for 85 percent of revenue. He's also begun using retailers to reach more consumers. Dell lost the lead in PC shipments to Hewlett-Packard last year after that company's consumer sales surged.

FedEx

$87 million facility to boost business

FedEx Corp., the second-largest U.S. package-delivery company, will build an $87 million facility in Ohio as part of plans to double its North American ground-shipping capacity.

The Perrysburg Township center will process 22,500 packages an hour when it opens in 2009, and eventually expand to twice that amount, FedEx said Tuesday. The 400,000-square-foot facility replaces an existing operation in nearby Toledo, the company said.

FedEx Ground is the company's second-largest unit, behind its air-express business, and produced almost 18 percent of FedEx's total revenue in the fiscal first quarter. The new Ohio hub is part of a $1.8 billion expansion started in 2002 to compete with UPS, which controls about 73 percent of the U.S. ground-delivery market.

FedEx Ground handles an average of about 3 million packages a day.

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