The Honolulu Advertiser from Honolulu, Hawaii • 16

iff 'The Honolulu Advertiser STOCK WATCH DOW JONES UP: 72.82 CLOSE: 11,139.24 NASDAQ UP: 10.26 CLOSE: 139122 NYSE UP: 3.79 CLOSE: 655J2 If UP: 34.84 CLOSE: 2741.02 PAGE B6 SATURDAY July 3 1999 BUSINESS DESK dlna to few tMQW UJ DJUl NATION WORLD FTC intensifies gas price probe Sale includes KFVE marketing agreement INSIDE Hawaii sports could benefit from Raycom purchase. PAGE Dl (Channel 5) partner have the television rights for University of Hawaii sporting events through 2002. The "innate understanding of the station and the marketplace, can only help us as we move forward," Fink said. Hayes said he anticipates the Federal Communications Commission will approve the sale by the end of the year. If the deal goes through, Raycom will own or manage 34 television stations and two radio stations in 20 states and Puerto Rico.

The firm also owns Raycom Sports, a marketing, production, events management and distribution com and general manager in August 1996. Td like to think the relationship he and I have, as well as the strong feeling he has for all of the people at this station, were strong reasons for the purchase of this station," Fink said. "I think Raycom's commitment to local news and community support, and their strong presence in 30 stations around the country, indicates that this is going to be a real positive move for the station and the community." In the ratings wars among Honolulu's four television stations, KHNL's news operations consistently have been at or near the bottom. The Raycom team, with its By Susan Hooper Advertiser Staff Writer Raycom Media, an Alabama company, has signed an agreement to buy KHNL-TV, the NBC affiliate here, from A. H.

Belo Corp. The $88-million deal also includes the sale of KASA-TV, the Fox affiliate in Albuquerque. Belo said in May that it wanted to sell the two stations to concentrate on markets closer to its Dallas headquarters. The sale of KHNL-TV includes that station's local Raycom two and a half years ago. "We know the television station very well," Hayes said.

"I know the managers, the employees, the uniqueness of the Hawaii market. I understand how business is done in Hawaii. We like that television station a lot, and we want to do things to strengthen news and grow that business. Arid since Raycom with KHNL owns the rights, to the Rainbow sports, we want to find ways we can strengthen that franchise too." KHNL (Channel 8) and its marketing agreement with KFVE, the UPN affiliate here. John Hayes, president and chief executive officer of Raycom Media, has a previous relationship with the Hawaii stations.

He was vice president of television for The Providence Journal which owned KHNL and oversaw KFVE broadcasting operations until 1996. Belo acquired KHNL when it bought The providence Journal Co. "I'm in essence buying my old stations back," said Hayes, who helped found million agreement, completed in 1997 and believed to be the richest television sports contract between a university and an independent company, averages $1,253 million annually. Hayes promoted John Fink into his current posi-; tion as KHNL's president pany. Raycom Spdrts owns two LPGA golf tourname and, in a partnership- television basketball rie to the Atlantic Coast Con ence, among other holdings.

iring, salaries register increases New Harm owners say they'll retain staff Federal Reserve may need to rethink interest rate policy after raising its benchmark federal funds rate a quarter-point to 5 percent. The sharp gain in new jobs was significantly higher than Wall Street had expect- ed, as was the Chicago Tribune WASHINGTON The U.S. jobs machine kicked into high gear again last month and workers' wage gains accelerated slightly, the Labor De- average hourly wage for non-supervisory workers, which rose 5 cents to $13.23 ail hour, a 0.4 percent increase. The rejuvenation of the job market after a one-month lull, and the slight uptick in wages, suggest "There's nobody else with a pulse out there to hire." CARL TANNENBAUM ECONOMIST partment reported yesterday, renewing fears that the economy may be growing too fast for its own good. Though the overall unemployment rate actually moved up a tenth of a percentage point to 4.3 per The Federal Trade Commission is stepping up its investigation of California gasoline prices with a new round of subpoenas seeking information about oil company pricing methods, a source familiar with the investigation said yesterday.

The commission is one of several regulatory agencies examining California prices, which rose sharply in February and March and remain higher than the national average. The California and Nevada attorneys general also are investigating the price increase, and the federal General Accounting Office has been asked to look into the issue as well. The subpoenas seek company pricing records and other documents that might reveal how companies decide gasoline prices for different regions, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Oil refiners have blamed the price increase on such factors as production cuts by OPEC nations and refinery fires that forced companies to import gasoline to California from Asia and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Asian stocks outshine others Investors who bought low and held on for dear life through the worst of the Asian financial crisis can now look back and say the ride was worth it. Mutual funds that track stocks in Asia outside of Japan trounced all other categories with a return of 37.61 percent in the quarter that ended June 30, according to data released yesterday by the research firm Lipper Inc. The category also was the winner for the past 12 months of all 6,500 stock funds tracked by Lipper with a return of 69.87 percent, edging out technology funds, which had a return of 67.74 percent. FCC approves cellular deal SBC Communications Inc's $1.67 billion purchase of Comcast cellular business has won Federal Communications Commission approval. The combined with SBC's pending purchase of Ameritech will put SBC in nine of the top 10 U.S.

wireless markets. The FCC may rule on the Ameritech purchase as early as next month. SBC, based in San Antonio, Texas, is the No. 2 local telephone company. It sells wireless services under the Cellular One brand name.

It'll pay $400 million in cash and assume 1 .27 billion in debt to add Comcast Cellular 800,000 customers. Ameritech is selling about half of its wireless properties to GTE Corp. for $3.27 billion in cash to eliminate overlap with the combined SBC-Comcast Cellular. Philadelphia-based Comcast, the No. 3 U.S.

cable-TV company, is selling its cellular business to concentrate on competing against Time Warner Corp. and others in the cable market. SBC is the third-largest U.S. wireless provider after Vodafone AirTouch Pic and Corp. Ameritech serves 3 million wireless customers in Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Staff and news services i sV- cSk (p- J'i! J-m iiihi'jI' fiTiltimfHilrMi) iii'ili 'tii liiiiii'iiiiii i 1 1 in mi i'iiiiHimj nmniimfiiiiiiiii' tr XLJuanxii ed to some Fed mm watchers that the red flags will go up again at the nation's central bank, which has been keeping a close eye on labor markets as the key indicator of whether the economy is overheating. "This report will force the Fed to rethink its neutral stance later this summer," said Carl Tannenbaum, economist at LaSalle National BankABN AMRO. "Where did employers find another 268,000 people? There's nobody else with a pulse out there to hire." cent in June, the U.S. econo- my added 268,000 new jobs last month, significantly higher than the average of the first five months of the year. The latest jobless report is raising new concerns that tight labor markets will force the Federal Reserve Board to reconsider its neutral stance on raising interest rates when it meets next month.

This week the Fed surprised financial markets by removing its bias toward further tightening of rates By Edwin Tanji Advertiser Maui County Bureau HANA, Maui The new owners of the Hana Ranch and Hotel Hana Maui said yesterday they have completed the purchase and assured employees they will be retained. "We're pretty excited, but we're not making any wholesale changes," said Jeff Mahan, vice president of Prairie Group Management, which is taking over the Hana operations. Investment group Meridian Financial Resources bought the ranch for an undisclosed price. Principals in Meridian, which is based in Batavia, include Mark Ward, who previously was with Rosewood Property a Texas-based former owner of the ranch. Rosewood sold the ranch and hotel in 1989 for $63 million to a Japanese company, Sekitei Kaihatsu, which operates hotels and restaurants in Japan.

Sekitei's efforts to develop the resort ran into community opposition over plans for a golf course and complications over the economic downturn that drained the Japanese economy. By 1996, the hotel was struggling with unpaid bills and employees feared a shutdown. Maui County last month filed a foreclosure action against the former owner for two years of unpaid taxes and penalties totaling more than $400,000., Mahan said the outstanding claims were supposed to be handled by the time the sale closed Wednesday. East Maui Councilman J. Kalani English welcomed the new owners, adding that he hopes "their vision for East Maui will reflect a delicate balance between the need for economic growth and our cultural heritage." Ward said Meridian hopes to develop "a mutually beneficial relationship with the community." Mahan said the management team believed its best option was to retain the current work force.

"We think there are a number of great people already working here. And we had to figure out how we were going to staff this place," he said. A Hana community meeting with Meridian executives is scheduled for 6 pm. Tuesday at Helene Associated Press Stocks rose to new records yesterday as a strong employment report fed investors' enthusiasm and capped a week of extraordinary strength on Wall Street. Dow tops off biggest weekly point gain in history biggest weekly point gain in its 103-year history.

Broader stock indicators extended a string of records. The Standard Poor's 500 rose 10.26 to close at 1,391.22, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 34.84 to 2,741.02. facturing and mining posting solid gains. The increase in jobs was slightly stronger than economists expected, and average hourly earnings, a key gauge of inflation See STOCKS, B5 Both indexes set new closing highs Wednesday, Thursday and yesterday. Stocks marched higher as the Labor Department said American businesses created a total of 268,000 new jobs in June, with all industries except manu Wall Street.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 72.82 to close at 11,139.24, easily topping its previous record close of 11,107.19, set May 13. For the week, the Dow rose 5.56 percent or 586.68 points, the Associated Press NEW YORK Stocks rose to new records in a quiet session yesterday as a strong employment report fed investors' enthusiasm and capped a week of extraordinary strength on High hopes invested in going public with China.com are being floated for $14 to $16 each, analysts are already predicting strong demand. "People are just salivating at the potential of attacking the China market," said Hanson Cheah, executive director of venture capital firm AsiaTech the Chinese-language Web site partially owned by the mainland government hopes to raise more than $60 million in its share offering, which is widely expected next week on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Even though the company would not say precisely when the 4.2 million shares Cheah estimates there are 3.3 million Internet users in China and that just 100,000 of them use far below the 900,000 users logging on to market leader Sina.com, and lagging other middle-range players including Netease.com and Sohu.com. Still, whether China.com can deliver value in the long run remains tentative.

China.com is pinning its hopes on future earnings, and analysts say the company will need more than just what seems like the perfect name if it is to carve out a niche in China's nascent information industry. Associated Press HONGKONG What's in a name? For China's first Internet company that plans to go public on the U.S. stock market, it's all in the tempting moniker: China.com. Wearing China hype and Internet frenzy on its sleeve,.