The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 31

2003:07:30:21:45:21 BUSINESS C3 LOSANGELESTIMES TEXTILES Pillowtex to Liquidate; 6,450 Workers Fired Pillowtex the maker of Royal Velvet and Fieldcrest towels and bedding, closed 16 plants and dismissed 6,450 workers, the largest firing in U.S. textile history, as the firm seeks to liquidate its assets under bankruptcy protection. The Chapter 11 filing is the second in less than three years for Kannapolis, N.C.-based Pil- lowtex, which came out of bankruptcy protection in May 2002. Pillowtex said that GGST a company formed by SB Capital Group Gibbs International Gordon Bros. Retail Partners and Tiger Capital Group has offered to buy the assets.

The company disclose a price. The bankruptcy filing is the latest by U.S. textile companies, which have struggled with slumping sales and low-cost imports. Pillowtex shares fell 12.4 cents to 1.6 centsin over-the- counter trading. From Bloomberg News HOUSING Clayton Shareholders OK Berkshire Deal Clayton Homes Inc.

shareholders approved a buyout offer for the huge manufactured housing concern from Warren Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Clayton executives said a preliminary count showed that the deal was approved by holders of 61.8% of the shares participating, or about 52.3% of the shares outstanding. The offer from the Omaha billionaire investor was the only one on the table for shareholders, who met at Clayton headquarters in Maryville, Tenn. Clayton shares fell 4 cents to close at $12.50 on the New York Stock Exchange. From Associated Press RETAILING May to Cut Jobs, Shut 32 Lord Taylor Stores May Department Stores the fourth-largest U.S.

department-store company, will close 32 of its Lord Taylor locations more than a third and fire about 3,700 people to focus on its more profitable stores. The company also will close aFamous-Barr store in Des Moines and a Jones Store in Omaha. The company said it would have pretax costs of about $380 million, including about $320 million, or 70 cents, in the second quarter, St. Louis-based May said. The company expects annual savings of about $50 million, or 10 cents a share, from the closings.

Shares of May rose $1.01 to the NYSE. From Bloomberg News ENERGY ChevronTexaco Hikes Dividend by 3 Cents Oil giant ChevronTexaco Corp. raised its quarterly dividend 3 cents to 73 cents a share, marking the first increase since shortly after the merger of Chevron Corp. and Texaco Corp. in late 2001.

The San Ramon, based company said the 4.3% dividend hike increases the total annual payout to its shareholders for the 16th straight year. At current rates, Chevron- Texaco holders will receive $2.86 per share in dividends this year, up from $2.80 in 2002, and $2.65 in 2001 on Chevron shares. The higher third-quarter dividend will be paid Sept. 10 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 19.

Douglass EARNINGS Goodyear Posts Loss of $74 Million in Quarter Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. reported a loss in the second quarter because of high raw material expenses and the costs of layoffs. The loss of 42 cents a share contrasts with earnings of $28.9 million, or 18 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales rose to $3.8 billion. Goodyear shares rose 37 cents to $5.54 on the NYSE.

From Associated Press Aetna Profit Climbs on Cost Cuts Aetna the second-biggest U.S. health insurer, said quarterly profit climbed as the company curbed medical costs and raised premiums. Second-quarter net income rose to $138.4 million, or 87 cents a share, from $108.2 million, or 70 cents, a year earlier, Hartford, Aetna said. Revenue declined to $4.47 billion as membership rolls shrank. Aetna has dropped more than 6 million members who were too costly to insure and raised rates for others since Chief Executive John Rowe, a physician, took over three years ago.

His next challenge will be to add members in a slow economy without cutting rates and hurting profit, analysts said. Shares of Aetna fell $1.99, or 2.9%, to the NYSE. From Bloomberg News 8 Ingram Micro the biggest distributor of computers and related parts, said second-quarter profit rose as it reduced costs. Net income rose to $11.5 million, or 8 cents a share, from $8.82 million, or 6 cents, in the year-earlier period, the Santa Ana company said. Sales fell 3.4% to $5.17 billion.

PHARMACEUTICALS ICN Extends Offer for Ribapharm Shares ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. extended for the third time offer to buy the shares it already own of its former subsidiary Ribapharm Inc. ICN is offering to pay $5.60 ashare, or about $168 million, for what amounts to 19.9% of the company. ICN said its latest offer would expire Friday at 2 p.m. The Ribapharm board maintains that the offer is inadequate and has adopted a defense.

Ribapharm shares fell 33 cents to ICN shares fell 59 cents to $15.17, both on the NYSE. Both companies are based in Costa Mesa. D. White MEDIA Gates Buys Stake in Grupo Televisa Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates bought a stake in Grupo Televisa the largest Spanish-language broadcaster, through his investment fund and charity.

Gates owns 6.35 million of U.S.-traded shares through Cascade Investment and the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, according to a Televisa filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. From Bloomberg News Cox Earnings Rebound on New Services Boost Cox Communications the fourth-largest U.S. cable operator, said it rebounded to asecond-quarter profit of $117.7 million, helped by sales of new services. The company also boosted its profit growth forecast for the year. Atlanta-based Cox raised its 2003 forecast for growth in operating income before depreciation, amortization and onetime items to to up from an earlier estimate of to Cox sells a discounted package of cable, high-speed Internet and telephone service.

Cox shares fell 33 cents to the New York Stock Exchange. They have risen this year. From Bloomberg News CONSUMER GOODS European Union OKs Wella Purchase Procter Gamble Co. won European approval to buy German hair-care products maker Wella for $7.2 billion after offering concessions to overcome antitrust hurdles. pledged to license some brands, including Herbal Essences, for five years in Ireland, Norway and Sweden to get the clearance, the European Commission in Brussels said.

Cincinnati-based has U.S. regulatory approval and expects to complete the deal in September. shares rose65 cents to the NYSE. From Bloomberg News AUTOS Judge Suggests Daewoo Unit Block Rivals It is unlikely that Daewoo Motor America the bankrupt sales unit of insolvent Daewoo Motor would be allowed to block General Motors Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp.

from selling Daewoo vehicles in the U.S. under their own brand names, a judge indicated. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sheri Bluebond in Los Angeles said she probably would deny Dae- request for a temporary restraining order, Suzuki spokeswoman Celeste Speier said. General Motors spokesman Jerry Dubrowski also confirmed the ruling.

From Bloomberg News IN BRIEF By Marisa Lagos Times Staff Writer a case of Spam vs. spam. It would seem hard to confuse the trademark canned meat with junk e-mail. But Hormel Foods Corp. thinks otherwise.

Hormel, which marketsthe canned meat Spam, has taken issue with SpamArrest request to trademark its name. The Seattle-based software and Internet company, whose product blocks unwanted unsolicited commerciale-mails for subscribers, filed for two international trademarks in early 2002. This year, the Austin, based food producer which has marketed Spam since its creation 66 years ago filed a suit with the Patent and Trademark Office to stop the trade- approval. claim: The trademark of those four letters belongs to it, and it alone, and it want people thinking of junk e-mail every time they see a can of the meat. If you ask the Internet firm, though, the little blue can was the on its mind when the name was chosen.

no possible way that acomputer program to stop junk e-mail could be in any way confused with a canned meat SpamArrest spokesman Allen Priaulx said. official position on a word? The company does not object to the use of the term, its Web site said, but draws the line when it comes to trademarking that name. we are trying to avoid the day when the consuming public asks, would Hormel Foods name its product after junk understand we like junk e-mail either, and we understand that be- come a term generic in Hormel spokeswoman Julie Craven said. we have an obligation to step in when filed as a Craven said the term became synonymous with virtual junk mail in the early 1990s, thanks to aMonty Python skit that featured Spam. this skit, a group of Vikings sang a chorus of spam, spam in an increasing crescendo, drowning out other said a statement on the company Web site, www the analogy applied because commercial was drowning out normal discourse on the But SpamArrest is only one of more than 60 firms with in the name that have registered with the Patent and Trademark Office.

More than half of those requests are pending; many others have been dropped or denied. Priaulx understand why the meat company is going after SpamArrest. likes he said. Craven said that as far as she knows, Hormel challenges every firm that tries to trademark a name with it and that Hormel has won each of the more than a dozen challenges. Mark Krull, a patent attorney in Bend, says companies such as Hormel fear trademark infringement for two reasons: The power of their name could become by too much use; or if the name becomes widely used for a particular type of product as aspirin did it could become generic and lose the trademark.

a name becomes truly generic, anyone can use it, and a he said. Priaulx said SpamArrest was that when the challenge goes before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, possibly as soon as this fall, the trademark will right Hormel, meanwhile, is confident its Spam will remain the only one with a trademark. Spam Maker Tells Firm to Can It Hormel Foods is suing over the use of the name in software that blocks junk e-mail. From Reuters The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday that it was investigating allegations that WorldCom Inc. illegally routed telephone calls to skirt expensive fees paid for connecting calls.

The probe was revealed after the House Energy and Commerce Committee asked the FCC how it would respond to charges leveled by rivals about the fees. The panel also requested documents about any violations of rules uncovered by the agency. The FCC investigation into the No. 2 long-distance telephone carrier is in addition to one by the U.S. attorney in New York, as well as an internal review by WorldCom, which will change its name to MCI after emerging from bankruptcy protection.

the biggest U.S. long-distance carrier, has accused WorldCom of improperly diverting U.S. calls, including those by government agencies, through Canada to avoid hefty connection fees. It plans to sue WorldCom for damages. The two biggest local telephone companies, Verizon Communications Inc.

and SBC Communications also have questioned whether WorldCom rerouted phone calls to avoid fees and hide the originof calls. the expert agency it would be normal for the FCC to review such matters and we stand ready to cooperate in every WorldCom spokesman Peter Lucht said. WorldCom Subject of FCC Probe The agency is looking into allegations the long-distance carrier illegally routed calls. tured him in an almost unbroken string of hits. After stumbling with Last Action in 1993, he came back ayear later with which took in $146million at the U.S.

box office. Many major stars have capitalized on such momentum by establishing themselves in parallel careers as producers and directors. Thus Mel Gibson, Robert Redford and Clint Eastwood, among others, have used their celebrity to anchor a filmmaking machinery that has served them long after the simple appeal of youth had faded. Schwarzenegger, by contrast, largely has remained an actor for hire. He sometimes has taken producer credits but become the center of a major production company.

And he shied away from directing after two modest efforts: the 1992 TV movie in for Turner Pictures and a 1989 episode of From the for HBO. like an associate said. In returning to his role, which coincided with the attention his political foray generated, the actor briefly rekindled past glory. But the hugely expensive film has grossed just domestically. The relatively soft performance could make it more difficult for Schwarzenegger to reprise other past successes, despite flirtations with possible sequels to and the which established him as an action star in 1982.

Armyan Bernstein, the producer who made of with Schwarzenegger in 1999, said the star can remain viable as an action hero if his roles are to the age he is and true to what the audience Bernstein, whose company is developing an buddy designed as a vehicle for Schwar- zenegger and Jackie Chan, cites Clint success in portraying a creaky, tired gunslinger in which won the best picture Oscar for 1992. Creative Artists Agency, which has represented Schwarz- enegger since he left the William Morris Agency last year, has been negotiating for the actor to star in New even though the comedy is currently without a producer, director, start date or production budget. The agents also have their eye on a remake of for Warner. Schwarzenegger has been quoted as saying he would avoid the too-familiar robot role in the cult science fiction film, preferring instead to portray the more vulnerable, hunted human. Afar more radical step might involve another project, Based on a book by Richard Nash and produced by close friend Al Ruddy, the independent project would presumably cost far less than the big-budget spectacles Schwarzenegger has carried in the past.

It also might let him display dramatic talents that ha- always been apparent. tells the story of a man bringing a 12-year-old boy back to his estranged father. If that seems a stretch for an actor best known for zingers like la vista, close friends believe that Schwarz- enegger, with his bodybuilding focus, can achieve any realistic goal he might set. find a third act in his movie career if what he said producer Steve Reuther, who made last action thriller with Schwarzenegger. Reuther said it would be unwise to bet against the actor.

always had such confidence in Politics May Take Back Seat to Troubled Day Job Box-office muscle Some of Arnold highest-grossing movies: Domestic Releasebox office Movie (distributor)date(millions) Terminator 2: Judgment Day True Lies Terminator 3: (Warner Total Recall Twins Eraser (Warner Kindergarten Cop of Tuesday Source: Nielsen Los Angeles Times Photograph by Zade Rosenthal SPY GAMES: During a hot streak in the early 1990s, Arnold Schwarzenegger played secret agent Harry Tasker in Schwarzenegger, from Page C1 Andrew Winning Adios to the Love Bug A mariachi musician places his sombrero on the roof of the last classic VW Beetle as it rolls off the production line at plant in Puebla, Mexico. The company is ceasing production of the car after nearly 70 yearsbut will continue to make its more modern New Beetle at the plant. From Bloomberg News Mobile telephone operator Cingular Wireless agreed to buy some wireless-spectrum licenses from NextWave Telecom Inc. for about $1.4 billion, people familiar with the matter said. The sale, which must be approved by U.S.

Bankruptcy Court, would give NextWave its first income from licenses that it won in Federal Communications Commission auctions in 1996. The U.S. Supreme Court in January rejected an FCC effort to reclaim them from NextWave. Cingular, an Atlanta-based venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth will buy about a fifth of the licenses to patch gaps in its network.

The pact may spur Veri- zon Wireless and Wireless Services Inc. to make a competing offer, an analyst said. Cingular be able to potentially build out its own network in markets where it currently has said Peter Friedland, an analyst at W.R. Hambrecht Co. in San Francisco.

NextWave Senior Vice President Michael Wack and Cingular spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock declined to comment. The companies plan to file the agreement as early as todayin court in White Plains, N.Y., one person said. Under bankruptcy rules, other bidders can make counter-offers for assets being sold by a company in Chapter 11. Shares of Hawthorne, N.Y.- based NextWave rose 31 cents, or to $2.93 in over-the- counter trading. NextWave and won 90 licenses in auctions in 1996 and 1997.

Licenses give the owner the right to transmit wireless calls over specific frequencies. The value of the fre- quencies tumbled to as little as $1 billion soon afterward, in large part, NextWave says, because the FCC flooded the market with additional airwaves. NextWave has said it may sell all the spectrum or keep some to form its own wireless company. The company last year lined up $5.5 billion in financing to build a nationwide network, including a $300-million investment from San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. and a loan commitment from UBS Warburg NextWave still owes about $4.3 billion plus interest for the licenses, said David Kaut, an analyst with Legg Mason.

Any sale must be approved by the FCC. Shares of San Antonio-based SBC rose 6 cents to $23.63 on the New York Stock Exchange; Atlanta-based BellSouth fell 2 cents to $25.11. Cingular to Buy NextWave Licenses.