Pathway medical device approved

Medical technology

U.S. regulators have approved Pathway Medical Technology's first commercial product, a medical device that unclogs leg arteries, the Web site Xconomy reported Monday.

The product still won't be available for sale because the Kirkland company has to create a sales team and build an inventory, Pathway executives told Xconomy.

In April, Pathway raised $24.5 million in venture capital from existing investors in anticipation of the Food and Drug Administration approval.

Retail

TiVo to partner with Amazon.com

TiVo will introduce a "product-purchase" feature today in partnership with Internet retailer Amazon.com.

Owners of TiVo video recorders will see, in TiVo's various on-screen menus, links to buy products like CDs, DVDs and books that guests are promoting on talk shows like "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Late Show With David Letterman" and "The Daily Show."

In the months ahead, TiVo plans to begin offering this feature to advertisers and programmers, so that the chance to buy products and have them delivered will be presented to viewers during commercials and even alongside product placements during live shows.

If a viewer chooses to buy an advertised item during a broadcast, TiVo records the rest of the program so the viewer can easily return to it after the purchase. TiVo users will also be able to save their intended purchases in their Amazon account and return to the site later to complete the transaction.

Aerospace

Boeing gets C-17 order from Qatar

Boeing said it won an order from Qatar for C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

Boeing didn't say how many planes were ordered or give terms of the agreement signed Monday. A U.S. Defense Department statement July 11 said Qatar was seeking to buy two C-17s and related services for about $400 million.

Boeing C-17s are already used by the U.S., U.K., Canadian and Australian militaries.

Banking

Bank of America profit tops views

Bank of America became the latest in a string of big banks whose second-quarter earnings, while hurting from the impact of the credit crisis, still managed to beat Wall Street expectations.

The nation's second-largest bank by assets said Monday its profit fell 41 percent as losses in its struggling mortgage operations were offset by business in other parts of the company. But it beat Wall Street estimates, and its stock rose $1.07 to close at $28.56.

Four of the nation's five biggest banks have now reported better-than-estimated results.

Economy

Group forecasts gloomy trend

Factories laying off workers, stocks tumbling and shoppers ditching their credit cards forced the economy to contract in June, a trend likely to continue in the second half of 2008, a private business group said Monday.

The Conference Board's forecast of future economic activity fell 0.1 percent last month, in line with forecasts by Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR.

The group also revised May's number downward to a 0.2 percent decrease, from a 0.1 percent increase.

The financial crisis, high gas and food prices and the weak dollar "are all combining to produce unrelenting downward pressure on economic activity," said Ken Goldstein, labor economist with the Conference Board.

Media

Intel plan could restrain cable rates

Intel's proposal to add Internet capabilities to television set-top boxes could help restrain cable rate increases, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said Monday.

Video sent over the Internet "can provide an alternative to the cable pipe," Martin said at an FCC hearing on high-speed Internet policy in Pittsburgh.

"I certainly hope that will help provide additional competition and it's certainly something that's needed," Martin said. He said cable bills have doubled over the past decade as other communications costs have dropped.

Martin has criticized cable-rate increases since becoming FCC chairman in 2005. His support could help Intel's proposal emerge as a regulation.

Software

Electronic Arts extends offer

Video-game publisher Electronic Arts has again extended the deadline for its $2 billion tender offer to buy smaller rival Take-Two Interactive Software.

The offer now is scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Aug. 18, an extension from this past Friday. EA said Monday it needed more time to allow regulators to continue their review.

EA previously announced that it was in "substantial compliance" with the Federal Trade Commission's request for information about its proposed buyout of Take-Two. Based on its agreement with the FTC, EA said in a regulatory filing it will not close any acquisition until at least Aug. 21 or the FTC closes the investigation — whichever is earlier.

EA is trying to buy Take-Two, best known for the popular "Grand Theft Auto" series of games, for $25.74 per share, or about $2 billion. Take-Two has repeatedly rejected the offer as too low.

Internet

American Airlines, Google settle suit

American Airlines has dropped its lawsuit against Google over its search engine's directing some users to advertisements for the airline's competitors.

American sued the search giant last year seeking unspecified damages for trademark infringement. Last week, a federal district-court judge in Fort Worth dismissed the lawsuit.

Each side agreed to pay its own legal fees, and American recovered nothing from Google, according to an order signed by Judge John McBryde.

Google officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

American was upset that when Google users entered search terms such as AAdvantage, the trademark name of its frequent-flier program, the results included Web sites that had no connection to American.

The airline said the results could confuse consumers and divert customers from its own Web site. Google said its handling of trademarks in searches balanced trademark owners' interests and consumer choice.

Semiconductors

Texas Instruments misses estimates

Texas Instruments said Monday its first-quarter profit fell 4 percent, missing Wall Street estimates and sending the stock to a multiyear low in after-hours trading.

The Dallas-based chip maker reported net income of $588 million, down from $614 million in the same period a year ago. Earnings per share rose to 44 cents from 42 cents due to share repurchases.

Sales fell 2 percent to $3.35 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected profit of 46 cents per share on sales of $3.39 billion.

The results were at the lower end of the company's own estimates, which ranged from 43 cents to 47 cents per share in earnings and $3.33 billion and $3.46 billion in sales.

TI shares were down $3.32, or 12 percent, at $25.16 in extended trading after the release of the results. The shares last traded at that level in 2005.

The main culprit for the earnings decline was the business of selling chips for cellphones.

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff, The New York Times, The Associated Press and Bloomberg News