Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 43

-f- INDEX WELLS, AMEX MAKE A DEAL Wells Fargo Co. and American Express Co. have formed a strategic alliance to seB each other's mutual funds. Turn to D3 0 Lendng City honors banks D3 Executives only D2 Stocks D4.D6 Business Briefing D3 Mutual funds D7 Friday, April 21, 2000 Section www.startribune.combusiness Starlribune EARNINGS MARKETS Dew indirlriais CLOSE 10344)5 up 169.09 Late Easter telps amm Microsoft profits up 24 amid lawsuits, slow sales Spring-break ticket sales offset higher fuel prices National McDonald's Corp. earned $450 million in the first quarter, thanks in part to its "Made For You marketing strategy and computerized cooking program.

Soaring Gatorade sales helped Quaker Oats Co. post a 45 percent increase in Turn to D5. Regional NASDAQ CLOSE 3643.88 down 62.53 VOLUME 1.3 biHon CLOSE 639.41 up 614 VOLUME 896 million TX t. CLOSE 1434.54 up7X)7 Russell 2000 JVi CLOSE 481.84 down 439 -cM. Bloomberg-Star Tribune 100 CLOSE 103.59 upim mi.

Gold XjS CLOSE 27955 down 1.25 Handy Harmon CLOSE 27.00 down 0.45 West Texas crude JQ amaT-oi 5.79 606 30-yr T-bonrJ 503 Prime rate 900 CallThomson Financial, but did not impress some on Wall Street. "This is pretty weak," said J. P. Morgan analyst William Epifanio. "I expected much higher sales than this, even with the Y2K bug effects in the last quarter.

"Microsoft really needs a breakout quarter if they're going to move the stock price," he said. "It would really take something like getting $6 billion in revenues to make that kind of impression." MICROSOFT continues on DS: Shares hit hard after a judge decided that Microsoft violated antitrust laws. PC sales are slumping, but the release of Windows 2000 is creating optimism. Associated Press SEATTLE Microsoft Corporation's third-quarter earnings rose 24 percent from a year ago amid analysts' concerns over lagging computer sales and investor worries about its ongoing legal woes. The software company had profits of $2.39 billion, or 43 cents a share, on sales of $5.66 billion a 23 percent increase in revenues in the three months ended March 31.

In the same period a year ago, the company made $1.92 billion, or 35 cents a share, on revenue of $4.6 billion. The results squeaked by analysts' expectations of 41 cents per share, as reported by First cents a share. Continued economic recovery in Asia and lower non-fuel expenses also cushioned the approximately 80 percent increase in the average price of jet fuel in the first quarter, from 43.9 cents a gallon in the first quarter of 1999 to 79.1 cents in the same period this year. Overall, the world's fourth-largest airline booked $3 million in first-quarter net income, or 3 cents a share. On a day when most airline stocks were up, Northwest shares gained 1.3 percent Thursday to close at NORTHWEST continues on Y2K fears made for bad start.

By Tony Kennedy Star Tribune Staff Writer A sprawling spring vacation schedule due to the late arrival of Easter put unexpected hop in first-quarter results at Northwest Airlines. There was no escaping high fuel prices, which ravaged aftertax earnings by $110 million, or $1.20 a share. But Northwest outperformed projections on Wall Street by 30 percent, excluding a one-time gain of $44 million the company made by selling stock and other assets. Without the unusual gain, Northwest would have lost $41 million, or 51 cents a share. Analysts had expected a loss of 73 Ecolab Inc.

had record sales of $526 million and double-digit earnings per share growth. Deluxe preparing to spin off its eFunds subsidiary, earned $44.3 million in the quarter. Tennant Co. reported record first-quarter sales and earnings. Turn to TECHNOLOGY Handheld devices are considered opportunities, not gadgets.

Companies hope consumers will realize it doesn't take a desk or a PC to run a business. MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS Rainforest Cafe delays deadline to secure votes Severing the ties that o) o) Kl 17 r. By Susan Feyder Star Tribune Staff Writer As part of its bid to win over needed votes for its planned merger, Rainforest Cafe Inc. on Thursday extended the deadline for shareholders to choose what combination of cash and stock they would receive if the deal goes through. It is estimated that the company is up to a million shares short of the number needed for the deal to go through.

Proxy solicitors for the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, a large shareholder that opposes the deal, have estimated that the shortfall is from 500,000 to 1 million shares, said John Nelson, the board's investment director. Rainforest President Kenneth Brimmer declined to provide a specific number but said "it is not less" than the Wisconsin board's estimated range. The new deadline for shareholders to make their choice about cash and stock is Thursday, the day before a shareholders special meeting. RAINFOREST continues on 4.8 million shares have not been voted. a i FYI Philty Realtors sue over 'Sold sign ban Real estate agents in Philadelphia are suing to force the city to lift a civil rights-era ban on the posting of "Sold" signs outside homes a law aimed at countering "white flight" as neighborhoods became integrated.

The Greater Philadelphia Association of Realtors filed the lawsuit in federal court last month after a five-year repeal effort died in the City Council. The suit asks a judge to declare the ban unconstitutional. "I think we're the last big city with that law on the books and still being enforced," said Kevin Vaughan, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, which once supported the ban but now favors its repeal. During the 1960s, with federal civil rights laws opening traditionally white neighborhoods to blacks, authorities feared an exodus of whites afraid of falling property values. They said fears sometimes were fanned by unscrupulous real estate agents trying to get whites to sell out fast a practice dubbed "blockbusting." The City Council in 1970 passed an ordinance banning "Sold" signs outside homes.

Associated Press 4 J' A AO I v. 'v. ''Mr Associated Press The Novatel Wireless booth at the Chicago Comdex technology show Wednesday featured the OmniSky PalmTop modem, above, and the Merlin Wireless PC card, demonstrated by Sidney S. McAllster Jr. of Nashville.

Competition is stiff in wireless world Electronics Boutique ups bid for Funco Bloomberg News Funco Inc. said Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. boosted its bid for the buyer and reseller of new and used video games to $21 a share, or $135 million, matching an offer by Barnes Noble Inc. Electronics Boutique originally offered $17.50 a share, which Funco said it accepted April 3. Barnes Noble made its bid three days later, through its Babbage's Etc.

video-game software retail unit. The bidding has driven up Funco's stock price. Its shares closed Thursday at $21.28, up 53 cents, and have risen 80 percent from $1 1.88 on March 31. FUNCO continues on D2: Market is "expecting a higher offer. e-business with you no matter where you go.

It doesn't take a desk to be a business person anymore." The Boston-based Yankee Group estimates that there will be more than 1 billion Web-enabled mobile devices by 2003, generating as much as 63 percent of transactions on the Web. WIRELESS continues on D2: "It's about customer focus. Much of the buzz surrounding this year's spring Comdex technology show focused on how to make old, familiar devices such as the cellular phone and Palm personal digital assistant do more with "smart software." "Handheld gadgets aren't really gadgets anymore," said Bob Bier-man, manager of the four-day Comdex event. "They're really the opportunity, the enabler, of carrying your By Cliff Edwards Associated Press CHICAGO Are you ready to cut the cord? Makers of handheld gadgets are betting that you are, as the personal computer takes a back seat to mobile communication devices that companies say will fulfill the real goal of the new economy: connecting people to the Internet. COMMENTS Start-up anti-HMO draws big investor interest 41 For comments about this section, call Assistant Managing EditorBusiness Scott Gillespie at 612-673-4516 or e-mail scottg startribune.com.

For questions about stock listings, call 612-673-7926 or e-mail pkennedystartribune For inquiries or complaints about individual stories, call our reader's representative at 612-673-4450 or e-mail readerrep gw.startribune.com. drives everything in health care. "We found that consumers hate the existing system. Physicians, hospitals and employers who pay the lion's share of the bill are nowhere near happy either. They've been getting 20 or 30 percent premium increases.

So, we're trying to start over with something that makes more sense." ST. ANTHONY continues on D2: Give consumers more power. ties are significant." HealtheCare isn't a winner yet. Formed by refugees from the insurance and consulting industries, the St. Louis Park firm expects to start offering plans to employers this year.

"We've been trying to turbocharge a turtle," Craig Swanson, Healthe-Care's chief financial officer, said of attempts to improve the existing system. "We decided the only way that you're going to change a system is to change the way it's financed. That Fledgling HealtheCare Inc. has snagged $23 million from investors in what's believed to be the largest first-stage round of private-equity financing ever secured by a Twin Cities company. The concept investors bought into: to give consumers more choice and responsibility in how they and their employers spend health care dollars by basically cutting out the middleman the insurance company or HMO from the decision on ON BUSINESS Neal St.

Anthony which clinic, doctor, chiropractor, herbalist or therapist to visit. "The size of any financing speaks to the opportunity and quality of the investment," said Jay Hare, a partner at PrlcewatcrhouseCooper's Minneapolis office, which tracks venture capital investments. "The opportuni Craig Swanson, HeattheCare's chief financial officer: "Trying to turbocharge.".