Business & Finance

AT&T Wireless Services said it will buy the 77 percent of TeleCorp PCS it does not own for $2.4 billion in stock. AT&T, the third-largest US wireless company, also will assume $2.1 billion in TeleCorp debt. TeleCorp is based in Arlington, Va.

Northwest Natural Gas Co. agreed to acquire Enron Corp.'s Portland General Electric for $1.8 billion. The deal will combine Oregon's largest natural gas and largest electric utilities. Northwest also is based in Portland.

Sun Microsystems announced it will cut 4,000 jobs. Sun, the Palo Alto, Calif., computer-server manufacturer, said Friday that the cuts would produce savings of at least $125 million a quarter but will not affect research and development spending. The company estimated it lost at least $200 million as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The plug was pulled on Railtrack, the struggling British passenger service that depends on the government for two-thirds of its financial support. The Labour government asked the High Court to place the company in receivership, making it the first failure in almost 20 years of privatization, and a not-for-profit operator was expected to be set up under the national rail authority. Railtrack reportedly is $4.9 billion in debt.

Joining the ranks of other carriers in making job cuts, Austrian Airlines will reduce its payroll by 1,050 workers, the newsmagazine Format reported.