Business & Finance
Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. settled their long-running legal dispute over online advertising technology, with the former agreeing to yield almost 3 million shares of stock to its bitter rival. The value is estimated at up to $365 million, and Yahoo will resell 1.1 million of the shares. Analysts said the deal eliminates a major worry on the part of investors as Google prepares for its much-anticipated initial public offering. Yahoo's lawsuit had threatened the source of almost all of Google's revenue - the ads that appear on computer screens with each search result. The suit was filed in 2002 by a third company, since acquired by Yahoo, that contended the defendant violated its patented web ad sales and display system. Google said it will report a loss in the third quarter - its first as a publicly traded company - roughly equal to the value of the shares transferred to Yahoo.
Tycoon Donald Trump's stake in debt-ridden Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts in Atlantic City, N.J., will shrink from 56 percent to 25 percent as the result of a restructuring plan announced Monday. Under the bankruptcy protection plan, he will keep his chairmanship but will step aside as chief executive as part of an arrangement to salvage the gambling enterprise. To help pay down the resort's $1.8 billion debt, Trump will be required to make a series of investments totaling $71 million in the reorganized company, while Credit Suisse First Boston plans to invest about $400 million.
Delta Air Lines said that at its current rate of spending its cash reserves will have dwindled by more than half - from $2.7 billion at the beginning of the year to $1.3 billion at the end. The announcement Monday came amid renewed warnings that the company may be forced to file for bankruptcy if it cannot coax about $1 billion in additional wage and pension concessions from its unionized pilots, who vow to fight further cost-saving at their expense.
US Restaurant Properties Inc., which leases outlets to such chains as Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Applebee's, has agreed to buy CNL Restaurant Properties for $1.3 billion, they announced Monday. The merger creates the nation's largest company providing financial and real estate services to the industry, Bloomberg.com. reported. US Restaurant Properties is based in Dallas; CNL in Orlando, Fla. Together, they'll own or have a financial stake in almost 5,000 properties in 49 states.