Tucson Citizen from Tucson, Arizona • 23

Stocks of local interest Dow Jones Yesterday' 's close 30 Industrials 20 Transportation 15 Utilities 65 Stocks 9355 22 14 67 3177 85 29 32 304 99 -155 289751 5 82 Unchanged 508 Volume in shares Issues traded Composite 952960540 3579 1252 00 8 74 5C BUSINESS EDITOR JENNIFER BOICE 573-4608 Wednesday January 20 1999 language station sold Why the economy looks so good Unemployment is at At 1 6 inflation is 43 matching its running at its lowest peacetime low in 1957 since 1963 and 1964 Mortgage rates Federal budget averaged 683 surplus was $70 last week the billion in fiscal '98 tl lowest since 1967 first since 1 969 Retail gasoline prices in '98 were the lowest mllation-adusted prices in history averaging $101 for a gallon of regular unleaded gas inrm Source USA TODAY research son president and Laury Browning director of Arizona broadcasting Browning formerly was general manager of Journal Broadcast radio stations in Tucson owner is Roy Disney whose father Roy Disney is the vice chairman and head of animation for the Walt Disney Co "With our resources we can improve the local said Johnson who added that he also expects programming improvements within Telemundo because of Sony's purchase of the network in August However Johnson said no immediate changes are planned until the new owners learn lay of the land Besides Spanish-language broadcasting the Apogee Co also owns interests in real estate hotel furniture manufacturing and cremation centers and funeral homes in Oregon and Arizona Intercable and Channel 40 on People's Choice It is also seen on cable systems in Nogales Ariz and Nogales Son Hispanic Broadcasters was a division of Broadcast Intelligence Inc owned by Jay Zucker He continues to own other Broadcast Intelligence divisions which include a security operation a real estate firm and a communications consulting business When Zucker began operating his first station in 1989 his business had just two employees Before the sale Hispanic Broadcasters employed 56 people including 32 in Tucson They become Apogee employees Zucker said he was not actively trying to sell the stations but accepted offer because the company has the expertise and resources to make improvements stations are my babies and I want to see them Boeing Lockheed to get bigger rival LONDON British Aerospace PLC is buying Marconi Electronics for $127 billion creating the world's third-largest defense company and a rival to industry leaders Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp The deal which must bcK approved by British antitrust authorities was poorly received by other members of the European defense industry which has been reorganizing itself in hopes of launching its own defense giant to take on Lrxkheed and Bcx'ing Baby Bells lose long-distance bid WASHINGTON The nation's biggest local phone companies lost a bid yesterday to provide long-distance service to customers without having to meet requirements of a 1996 law The Supreme Court without comment rejected appeals by three Bell telephone companies SBC Communications US West and Bell Atlantic that the law unconstitutionally single's them out tor punishment The law requires the five Baby Bells to oen their local phone markets to long-distanc ompames and other potential rivals before the Federal Communications Commission will let them sell their own long-distance1 service to Icxal customers No Bell company has yet won such FCC approval because the commission savs none has suttic iently opened its market Economy best ever going up say most in poll Buying into the Web The continuing growth of the Internet is making online-related I businesses more attractive to buyers A look at five big Internet deals: By GARY STRAUSS and STEPHANIE ARMOUR Gannett News ServK Can it get any better? A majority of Americans 60 percent believe the economy is the best they've ever seen and 63 percent say economic conditions are getting even better according to a CNN USA TODAY Gallup poll Nearly 70 percent of 1009 adults surveyed rate current economic conditions good or excellent the highest percentage since the question was first posed in 1992 "Financially I'm much better off than at any time of my life" said industrial plant manager Tom Bollock 46 of St Cloud Minn "I'm a little concerned for the future But the economy is still pumping along and doing well Added Debbie Wetirheim a Trumbull Conn nurse "For me I'm more financially secure than I've been I do think it will be around for a while Credit the stock market low unemployment and minimal inflation "People have good reason to feel this way" said economist George Hoffer of Virginia Commonwealth L'mversi-ty "You have to go hack to Tucson Citizen STATIONS AFFECTED Also included in the sale of Hispanic Broadcasters to Apogee Co are: KEY-TV KHRR's satellite station that serves Sierra Vista Douglas and parts jot northern Mexico KDRX-TV in Phoenix and its satellite station which are both Telemundo affiliates And KQBN a UHF station in Tucson which shows Telemax programming orign nabng in Hermosiito Son taken to ihe next he said "Apogee is a small company with a strong reputation of taking care of staff They can achieve things I couldn't such as Bringing these stations into ihe digital age Zucker will continue as a consultan1 with Apogee for several months The new ownership team which will be known here as Television Apogeo de Tucson will be ht aded by Jim John ly S31 9 billion Alta Visi a owned by Compaq Computer may be for sale It it is it's considered to be behind the portal curve eve though it is one Add to tnis the fact that virtually tv -ne of them has any experience with a bear market suxe List real serou: one was and top it off with a smug belief that they are successful because they understand the power of the Net Je the re-t of us don't If ary ot you readers are falling for 'ne drug of et-y ppifits let me rroe a few points Bard (s a survey by the New Jersey -rased of and the averagTe investor today expects reui'is of I 6 px rev on their ck or fund pnrtfotT That of return wxiid put the fk J'voes at 4' 1 in a decade a 2 i 0 two decades Let me put this tr i A 7'ar terms At 6 pervert Spanish Telemundo affiliate KHRR-TV is part of the Hispanic Broadcasters sale By DAVID PITTMAN Citizen Assistant Business Editor Hispanic Broadcasters Inc has sold Spanish-language television stations in Tucson and Phoenix to the Apogee Co a business owned by a grandnephew of the late Walt Disney The sale price for Tucson-based Hispanic Broadcasters with headquarters at 2919 Broadway was undisclosed Hispanic Broadcasters had revenues of about $3 million last year Included in the sale is Tucson station KHRR-TV an affiliate of Telemundo a Spanish-language network owned by Sony KHRR is seen on Channel 10 on Cox Cable Channel 5 on Jones Search engines trend: Pairing Businesses dancing solo on the Net need to act quickly By JANET KORNBLUM Gannett News Service Going going gone -well almost Now that cable highspeed Internet provider At Home has snapped up Internet portal site Excite businesses coveting an established presence on the Net had better act quickly Portals sites designed to he Internet home on the Web are widely seen as a way to lure users to sites and keep them for as long as possible in hopes they will respond to ads and buy merchandise "I do think it is another indication of the accelerating consolidation we should expect to see more of in says Andrea Williams an analyst at Vulpe Brown Whelan Co With fewer players at the table "It becomes a musi-cal-chair game How many are left''" adds Barry Jaru-zeKki who covers high-tech companies for corporate strategy firm IV iz Allen Hamilton Not many Of the top 10 portals only three Lycos AltaVista anJ Yahoo' are still dancing without partners And it's not clear whether any of them want to be acquired or whether message trt-Js Saney Sy 41 emit a By sf "Before I as e'tmg A -r rV A iv fern aJ ut that it was n- mart rv Vi i IX tvt re- Siybr -fv) 25 firmer A tt Queens MfyrUAm-fhi is buy hath and a be afraid to take nks I lv no n-san rxiN or rtw are I surf ibe message bards and A for nx'ame WorldCom sold most ot CompuServe lernet businesses to Qwest received nearly 20 percent sink in addition agreed long term network to Apex Source AP 'exarch Stock prices soar Gannett News Service 1965 to get this kind of economic high-water mark Among poll findings The older the respondent the better they rate the economy Of those 50 and older more than 73 percent said it is good or excellent vs 61 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds The greater the household income the more optimistic respondents were about the economy Among those with annual income of at least S750O0 81 percent were bullish vs 56 percent earning $20000 to $30000 "The groups that feel stronger about the economy are more apt to earn more own more i stocks) and tend to he older" said Paul aylor senior economist with Amen-ca's Community Bankers The poll has a margin of errur of 3 percentage points Not everyone agrees about the economy's strength "I know so many people wfio are struggling I have a son who had to go to Virginia to get work because this area has nothing" said Rema IxHh a retiree from Afton "People are scrambling 1 don't remember that when my husband and I were young I don't remember that even 29 years ago earnings per share of '3 cents for the quarter ended Dec 31 up from $1 13 billion or 42 cents a share a year ago Analysts surveyed by First Call had expected 59 cents per share Revenues fur the quarter were SI 94 billion up 38 percent troin $3 59 billion a year ago The quarterly probts and revenues were records "Every now and agtm they have a quarter thit really i ikes your breath away" said analyst Scott Me Adams of McAdams nght Rugen Inc in Seattle "Clearly they beat the street and handsomely control wt use your lmiginatMn It is my opinion and a total wild giM-ss a momiriH iital wqxsiut Waiting to happs-n I It-re is my a Jv to 1 If airen Bcffet has Km ur hem don't take down hu picture your just yet Bjv companies h-TJ them f-Tev aid use your fr nl osnmrti lo Krt Sy? PQ fto Tjcocrv kZ pcc kje tone com krxrAuO yovi K0 norn and por row or to 5 Brtwcwv SvM Tyct mm mm com on vmm 9- ucaon LC and jn mm3 £rar Carp trmyrm mra ter gtrmrm Irrmm0yr and ar rmromC 0 OMi)ilccl KugrliiiV (llicis from vvirt rjHrts CLARIFICATION To get to the1 Web address indextundsonlmecom mentioned in lenniter Bones column yexterduv do not pre-tac the' address with vvww ON THE MOVE Paul Porell has been named manager ot the Tucson ottic ot arc hitec lure and engineering tirm Daniel Mann lohnson Porell has more1 than 27 SCSI'S of exfierieru in trans-(x ulation Porell PljnnnK design and pretext management Charles Feather was named genet al managit ot VoieeMream Wireless zona division He is respeinsihle for the1 eompanv sales and marketing oxaton in 1m-son and Phoenix feather tor-merlv worked tor Touch Cellular in San Diego and (ommNct Cel'iior tn (ken-vet you Scrv promotion nrm or wrt3 to announc KKXj th Irrtormimon to Jeonder Bnac PtctixM not Pdirrtd Jucton Cmn Boi Tuc00 Art! HiTX Ptson 57-6 fu 573-4S69 Microsoft profits up 72 At Ham $120 $ico-- Sa' P-ooee'g anyone can afford them Yahoo' is too expensive for most companies to buy Yesterday the value of its outstanding shares its market capitalization was near America Online to leasp capacity on its The Associated Press of the fastest search engines on the Internet and may be the fastest That leaves Lycos which strongly resembles leading portals such as Yahoo' and Excite The Internet rumor mill has Lycos being looked at by everybody including a possible bid by Time Warner Meanwhile portal sites are facing a stai reality Analysts have long predicted that the market can support only three to five portals Those that don't form partnerships or can't market on their ow generally have three opttons perish consolidate or shift strategies to become a site catering to a specific interest rather than a general-interest portal comHindeJ annually BxitkX) today woulJ grow to SI 3 billion in 2( xsx CoulJ getting sT iking fdthy nch be that easy And you do it line -'mg in companies that d'n't make any pn fits' rg3n Stanley's index of "3 Web companies collectively Let SI 5bllm Lest ear et hav a marke captj'iza'im of 1 1 bilhon Ether so rtirg is very very wrrg w'h ths puttme I am jii't rv-t the 1e an investor I am not 1 h- one wt r-red art thi' Bernard M-1 ft Fead-T the sfC's t-adu-g -rn-ve is urging online br erage companies arn their clients that jr Ama- ei c- er and Yabr fe severe hquidy trz if rte Internet buLbe is prxked investments wildly high out of Internet stocks The Associated Press SEA PI IE Strong growth in personil computer shipments lute lust year helped software giant Microsoft Corp produce a 72 percent increase in second quarter profits easily beating Wall Street estimates Still Microsoft remains worried about the global economy and about whether the need to fix tlte Year 2(XXi computer problem will keep corporations from buying new software Greg Maffei Microsoft's cl icf financial officer said yesterday Microsoft had net income (if I 9S billion anJ diluted (if course these frms are just as greedy profits as their customers sj hold your waiting fir die warnings And hi can be just as sure that evt if they printed it on every it would be ignored They rk t) 1 1 cigarettes Bsc'd i-e there is very Lrle short volume on these 't'cks no one is betting that they mil go down Thus is die to the huge daly increaw-s in t' price of th-- fr -r? Hem to in atd wait -r the it-t-rtg le Wth mm rtg JctaJ sh- -rtirg ckjtakes on m- vn rm -v an can -t a pe lUifurc th r-i ore sb-rtting if the dam breads there 1 be no ie tr buy the chrx-s beng -p ard "Barry Hot km SI personal irpury lawyer San Diepo What we have here is a broad-based case of macs psychosis brought on by a combination of greed and the Internet and fed by hubris Hubris fn' overweening pnde or self-confidence The folks these examples and an 17 million more jud Eke them according to Forbes are the fuel that is fanning the fre of the truly bizarre prises of sigh darlings of 'die computer geeks such as Amazon com Yahoo' and eBay They are dm en by cheap trades from orhra- brokerages such as Trade that run ads on TV showing people" making fas? pr f's on rapid-fre trades and keeping the money Jv to their I- I was reading the comics the other day hen I came across "Foxtrot This carbon is about a family in ha the youngest son Jason i- a math nerd and apinng Bll Gates JJS decided to start an Internet company take it public and get 1 le came up ith a name and figured that as enough When hs brother hat about ppofts Sdles a--etc and (her -nog sniff Jason answered begg critical and Lie an investor'" And this nserse is n- confined the rrigs In a recent is- vf Forces 1 Came acpwS the 'dowung of arttja! irve-m rx nr as ths is i-g to be I am n- max it up 7 avd to -'me arm but nov I tv.