The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 39

9 I i 9 JVJ 1 K1K1 niair naU ill it El Nuevo Herald SAnRcnrH0xEvsLR92Qe2 The Herald 3C 1 teams with Ch 23 BY CHRISTINA HOAG crcar -'e'-iccom El Nuevo Herald announced Friday that it has a new television news partner Spanish-lan-guage WLTV Channel 23 owned by the Univision network The new partnership is effective Monday said Jesus Diaz genera manager of The Miami Herald Publishing Co El Nuevo Herald's current partnership with WSVC-51 owned by the No 2 Spanish-language network Telemundo cast audience while El Nuevo Herald will bring in-depth stories that television generally lacks he noted intention is to develop a very strong relationship with he said agreement is for one year but open-ended" This is the second time El Nuevo has teamed with Univision They signed their initial partnership in 1996 Univision officials could not be reached for comment late Friday In a deal announced last ill end Sunday better for El Nuevo Herald to team up ith Channel 23 because their reach is so much greater than Diaz said will also have much more exposure on Up to three stories from FJ Nuevo Herald will be promoted on the station's 11 pm news broadcast and in the future that will be expanded to the 6 am morning show as well as the 6 pm newscast Diaz said The partnership is ideal as Channel 23 offers a large broad year Telemundo was bought by NBC hich owns and operates WTVJ NBC 6 in Miramar NBC 6 was the news partner of The Herald for eight years until last month when it teamed up with the Sun-SentineL El Nuevo Herald and WSVC-51 had been in the midst of negotiating a new partnership agreement when NBC 6 said it was pulling out of its relationship with The Herald Diaz said The Herald expects to announce a new television partner shortly he added ales from Chicago com-pary reared a chief i a board member whose ta g-curd market-g are more ad more beccmrg a ma-Vet leroh sa AoJ there is some segment tr-at there may be a larger pool of talent to tap the jsest oty The bulk of the company's 160 South Honda operations employees probably stay here" he said I AMERICABLE PLEADS GUILTY A cable company pleaded guilty Thursday and agreed to pay $22 million in penalties for trying to defraud the Pentagon during military base closings and plotting to launder illegal profits from another fraud Americable International a family-owned company based in Miami and two subsidiaries admitted conspiring to overcharge the military for cable equipment as bases were shut down in the 1990s About $8 million in illegal savings from the underreporting to as Discovery ESPN MTV and others wound up with the head of the company Charles Herma-nowski He was arrested in Australia and faces an extradition hearing in March prosecutors said Two other company officials also face criminal charges SEC accountant quits amid probe Robert Herdman was appointed by chairman Harvey Pitt after 28 years at Ernst Young SE I UPS INCREASES SHIPPING RATES United Parcel Service (UPS) the world's largest package hauler FnJay" announced pnce increases in ft shipping rates effective Dan 6 The Atlanta based company said it Mill raise the price for ground shipments to businesses by 39 percent The cost of Next Day Air Service will go up 32 percent While the price of UPS Worldwide Express deliveries will increase 29 percent The surcharge for residential dehvenes will inch up five bents to $115 UPS said its fuel surcharge an index based surcharge that is adjusted monthly will remain at 125 percent for November and December I ROADHOUSE SALES DECLINE Roadhouse Grill (GRLLQ) blamed a nearly 17 percent drop in sales on the losing of 17 restaurants in the Pompano Beach based casual-dining chain The company lost $21 mil-Hon or 22 cent a share on $359 million in sales for the quarter ended July 28 That compares with a loss of $22 million or 23 cents a share on $432 million in sales for the same period last year Roadhouse which emerged from Chapter 11 in September reported $15 million in costs related to its bankruptcy filing The chain owns and operates 69 restaurants and eight franchise or joint-venture operations IBENIHANA PROFIT RISES Benihana(BNHN BNHNA) reported higher second-quarter sales and profit The Miami-based restaurant chain earned $15 million or 17 cents a share on revenue of $42 million compared with earnings of $382000 or 5 cents a share on revenue of $375 million for the same period last year general economy has clearly slowed things down said Bemhana President Joel Schwartz our experience is that people are continuing to enjoy dining Class A shares fell $181 to $1240 common fell $208 to $1264 BY NEIL ROLAND Bloomberg News WASHINGTON Securities and Exchange Commission Chief Accountant Robert Herd-man resigned amid probes into his vetting of former FBI Director William fitness to head an accounting oversight board regret that we did not accomplish all that we set out to do but we did accomplish a great Herdman 54 said in a letter Friday to SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt who submitted his own resignation letter to President Bush on Tuesday resignation is effective immediately No successor has been named Herd-man was appointed by Pitt in October 2001 after 28 years at Ernst Young one of the four largest US accounting firms At Ernst Herdman was vice Levitt: More rules solve I LEVITT FROM 1C Clinton administration get much of what he wanted In a meeting with the accounting industry for instance the head of Arthur Andersen openly declared war on his ideas But society is now paying the cost for the Pyrrhic victory Levitt said think of a time when the markets and systems were viewed with such disdain by the he said Levitt who speaks casually and clearly and with a humor so subtle his jokes sometimes gets a delayed-reaction laugh was in many ways an accidental regulator He was neither an attorney nor an accountant His professional life began as a drama critic before he became a journalist for Life magazine and somewhat incongruously a cattle dealer in Kansas City Mo That led him to the securities business when a local broker told him: you can sell cows you can sell For someone who once ruled atop the system Levitt was surprisingly ambivalent about the effectiveness of regulatory oversight The truth is the solution to market scandals more rules he said Likewise he Pitt had asked Herdman to conduct a background check on Webster before the SEC appointed him the accounting chairman in a 3-2 vote last month Pitt and two other Republicans voted for Webster while the two Democrats opposed the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency Pitt accepted resignation with saying depth of experience made him the most qualified chief accountant in the Pitt accused of being too close to the industry he was regulating submitted his own resignation letter on election night saying he could no longer be effective amid the inquiries Pitt remains SEC chairman pending selection of a replacement scandals TIM CHAPMANHERALD STAFF seen as ethical standard-setters of he said culture in which CEOs all put pressure on one another to support acceptable standards of He added: will do more than any law we can pass firmly convinced that in the end only business that can save itself not just for its own sake but for the sake of all of who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust sweat and blood who strives valiantly who knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who if he fails at least failed while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor Bloomberg News reported that the quotation was also used by President Nixon in his resignation speech in 1974 markets King is the second-largest US hamburger chain rose 18 cents to $45 is retrenching to try to improve sales at its existing stores Greenberg said in a statement identify the countries exiting or the 10 nations where 175 restaurants will be closed chairman and head of the professional practice Herdman and Pitt are at the center of probes into why other SEC commissioners notified of issues involving audit committee work at US Technologies before he was named chairman of a new accounting oversight board Shareholders have sued US Technologies a Washington DC-bascd Internet company for fraud and its former auditor BDO Seidman said it was dismissed after warning Webster of problems with the internal controls Webster who has denied CHANGE NEEDED: Ex-SEC chief thinks business ethics courses are likely a waste of time since students are already adults with fully-formed characters Rather he says business leaders must redefine their role in society For too long the standard measures of success have been salary perquisites and the fortitude to do what it takes to raise the stock price even if the actions held key facts from members of the commission about his choice to head an accounting oversight board William Webster Pitt did not discuss Webster but instead defended his record Pitt pointed the finger at a of attack and that undercut his efforts and the agency He listed achievements at the helm of the SEC including reopening the markets six days trial Average The shares had fallen 27 percent this year compared with a 14 percent decline in the Dow Outside director Andrew McKenna in a statement released by the company said Greenberg has the of board Oak Brook-based with more than 30000 knowing of these problems has said he would resign if he thought the controversy made him ineffective as US accounting board chairman The board was created by Congress in July to police auditors and help restore investor confidence shaken by scandals at Enron WorldCom and other companies The inquiries into the handling of selection are being conducted by the inspector general and the General Accounting Office the congressional investigative arm Webster return calls to his office Friday seeking comment Arthur Levitt said leaders must be include massive layoffs ill-advised acquisitions or overly aggressive accounting think gone through a two-decade-long erosion of values on the part of Corporate Levitt said In the future business leaders must be seen as ethical standard-setters Levitt said need to restore the value after the Sept 11 terrorist attacks reforms including forcing executives to sign off on financial statements swiftly fling charges and freezing executive pay at WorldCom after that scandal broke In a final note to what he called his speech to the SIA Pitt closed with a quotation from President Teddy Roosevelt which he said a friend had sent him following his resignation belongs to the man 3 foreign restaurants in 121 countries earned $164 billion or $125 a share on revenue of $149 billion last year Shares of International which cut forecasts Thursday in part because discounting hurt sales fell $121 to $2690 The American depositary receipts of Diageo Pic whose Burger I TECO SHARES PLUNGE 22 Teco Energy (TECO) shares tumbled 22 percent to a 15-year low after a Merrill Lynch analyst cut his rating on the owner of Peoples Gas System and Tampa Electric citing liquidity concerns The shares fell $301 to $1049 in New York Stock Exchange trading the lowest level since at least 1987 The stock has lost 60 percent of its value this year Teco may have limited access to capital Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Fleishman wrote in a report The $350 million bank credit line has largely been drawn down he said Pricing on a planned $240 million bond issue has been delayed until later this month company spokeswoman Laura Plumb said Teco stock is being battered because caught in a tug of war between investors and creditors over how to use its cash said Paul Fremont a utility analyst at Jefferies Co IADB PRESIDENT IS RE-ELECTED Enrique Iglesias was reelected to a fourth term as president of the Inter-American Development Bank Iglesias 72 was the sole nominee and received the support of the 46 member countries the international lending institution said in a release The five-year term begins April 1 A Uruguayan he is the third president having held the position since 1988 The bank provides loans and capital assistance to Latin American countries financing projects through dues paid by member countries and by selling bonds I TRUMP SUES NEW YORK Real estate mogul Donald Trump has sued New York City for $500 million claiming a tax assessor bribery scandal forced him to sell apartments at a luxury building at below-market prices a published report said Trump said corrupt tax assessors hiked up taxes at Trump World Tower a 72-story building near the United Nations in order to cover up their scheme to lower taxes for certain landlords The New York Times reported Friday The higher taxes hurt the value of the condominiums depressing their selling prices said Trump who is also demanding that the city lower his property taxes on the luxury building to $701 million a year from $116 million From Herald Staff wire reports and Bloomberg News Pitt speech defends record DIVISION I UNIVISION MAKES DEAL Miami-based Univision Online and Consumers Union publishers of Consumer Reports announced a premium content distribution agreement in which Consumers Reports will be offered in Spanish on the Spanish-lan-guage website univi-sioncom i The deal marks the first time this content will be available-in Spanish on the Web the companies said Also as part of the agreement Univision Online will integrate free buying tips from Consumer Reports on auto and electronic purchasing in the website and will work with ConsumerReportsorg on other initiatives to reach the US Hispanic market UDINE JOBS MAY MOVE Armed with a new chairman and chief executive iDine Rewards Network (IRN) is considering moving some jobs from North Miami to Chicago No decision has been made but the possibility of shifting an unspecified number of employees likely will be discussed at the Nov 19 meeting in Chicago said Stephen Lerch chief financial officer The dining incentive program is chaired by real estate tycoon Sam Zell who oper- I PITT PROM 1C if investors truly believe you care first and foremost about serving their needs and interests will they become for Pitt said Pitt was greeted with warm applause at the outset of his speech and short standing ovation afterward It was first speech since he quit on election night That followed revelations the week before that Pitt had with leaving I McDONALDS FROM 1C assets includes about 140000 shares are not moving in the right shares fell $152 to $1779 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading making the stock the biggest decliner among the 30 members of the Dow Jones Indus.