News In Brief

Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corp, the No. 2 movie- theater operator in the US, announced plans to shut down about 675 of its 2,965 screens in the US and Canada. It also said it's considering filing for bankruptcy protection. The company attributed its problems to dips in attendance and to overbuilding in the industry. Analysts say the roughly 37,000 screens in the US are about 10,000 too many, which has plunged other operators into financial trouble as well. Several suitors reportedly are eyeing Loews, among them Galaxy Entertainment, a Canadian chain. Loews operates theaters under the Cineplex Odeon, Europlex, Loews, Magic Johnson, and Sony names.

Ziff Davis Media and CNET Networks Inc. announced revisions to a $1.6 billion stock-swap deal reached last fall. Under the new terms, New York-based Ziff Davis is to regain control of the 11 magazines and Web addresses that had been handed over to CNET when the latter acquired Ziff Davis's ZDNet subsidiary. The publications include Family PC, PC Magazine, and Yahoo! Internet Life. Financial terms of the revised agreement weren't disclosed. CNET, an Internet company, is based in San Francisco.

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