THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 29, 1996 TAG: 9610290269
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D2 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 111 lines
McDonnell Douglas is dropping plans to build its biggest and longest-range jetliner, the MD-XX, but says it isn't leaving the commercial airline business. The company decided that the risks involved in launching the $3 billion MD-XX project did not merit the required investment, spokesman Larry McCracken said today. Executives and directors of the St. Louis-based company made the decision last Friday. The MD-XX would have had 300 to 375 seats, three engines and a newly designed wing. The Wall Street Journal said the MD-XX would have cost $2 billion to develop, plus another $1 billion for Douglas Aircraft to upgrade its Douglas Aircraft headquarters in Long Beach, Calif., to produce the plane.(AP) 14 states accuse Mazda for deceptive advertising
Fourteen states sued Mazda Motor of America Inc. Monday, accusing the company of deception in advertising its ``zero down'' and ``penny down'' auto leases. The actions are part of a nationwide crackdown on misleading auto-leasing practices that are costing consumers millions of dollars annually, said Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran Jr. Other states suing Mazda over the ads were Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Washington. The Mazda ads duped thousands of consumers nationwide into believing they could enter auto leases at little or no cost, only to find out later that the true price of admission was nearly $1,000, Curran said. (The Washington Post) Big b agrres to Revco latest buyout proposal
Revco D.S. Inc., the nation's second-largest drug store chain, strengthened its Southern flank Monday with an agreement to buy No. 10 Big B Inc. in a sweetened, $380 million cash deal. The deal would give Revco, based in Twinsburg, Ohio, an additional 397 pharmacies in the Southeast. Revco currently has 2,202 stores in 14 states. Part of a national wave of consolidation in drug retailing, the merger gives Revco immediate footholds in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. Revco gains more than 200 stores in those three states, where it now has none. (AP) Microsoft, sun duel over simplified PCs
Pushing what might as well be dubbed ``PC Lites,'' Microsoft Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc. this week faced off with rival plans for simplified versions of the powerful personal computers used on most office desks. The new computers are cheaper for businesses to buy and maintain than $2,000-to-$3,000 personal computers because they would download software via the Internet - instead of storing applications in a hard-drive that needs to be periodically updated with new software. (AP) Investors add $17 billion to September stock funds
Investors continued to shovel money into the stock market in September, handing more than $17.4 billion to stock mutual funds, a mutual fund trade association said in its monthly report Monday. It was a relatively good month for bond funds too - an end to their three-month losing streak. Money market funds, though, had $12 billion in outflows - dropping overall September inflows for the three categories to $7.32 billion, according to the Washington-based the Investment Company Institute. (Dow Jones News Service) Kellogg division to focus on "functional foods"
Kellogg Co. formed a new Functional Foods Division to focus on research, development and marketing of foods that help consumers in the prevention and treatment of disease. The company said it is investing in the long-term potential of ``functional foods'' as an emerging food category. William J. Mayer was named president and general manager of the new business unit. Mayer joined the cereal maker in 1992 and mostly recently was vice president of medical affairs. Kellogg did not disclose financial details about the move. (Dow Jones News) Airline's "royal label" got the thumbs down
Airline food fit for a king? Regardless of the quality, the vacation carrier Britannia said Monday it will drop the ``royal'' label from its on board catering because some passengers were put off. Britannia launched its ``royal'' in-flight services four years ago, and ever since then the British royal family has been embroiled in controversy and divorce - played out in a feisty tabloid press that relishes in every detail. The airline based in Luton, just north of London, will rename its services next spring. Buckingham Palace, in keeping with genuine royal tradition, had nothing to say. (AP) AT&T offers phone service to Japanese
AT&T Corp. has applied to provide international phone service in Japan, taking on three established Japanese companies, officials said Monday. AT&T's service would take advantage of the fact that calls from the United States to Japan are cheaper than those going the other way. Using a special trans-Pacific leased line, AT&T's so-called ``callback system'' would convert calls placed in Japan into U.S.-to-Japan calls, saving money for the user. The economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said in its Monday evening edition that AT&T would charge 36 to 50 percent less for international calls than the three current Japanese providers. (AP) U.S. charges Sabre with air-travel bias
The popular computer software used by many travel agents unfairly highlights the flights of its developer, American Airlines, the government charged Monday. The Transportation Department charged that software called Preference MAAnager, distributed to at least 650 travel agents, biases the popular Sabre computer system in favor of flights by American and its affiliate, American Eagle. (AP) In other news...
Merrill Lynch & Co. said Monday it named David H. Komansky chief executive and chairman, succeeding the retiring Daniel P. Tully. Komansky will become CEO effective Dec. 28 and chairman effective April 15, 1997. He will remain the company's president and chief operating officer, Merrill said. . . . Total SA Chief Executive Thierry Desmarest said France's second-largest oil company will ignore a U.S. law promising sanctions on firms that do business with Iran or Libya. Total, which has a $600 million agreement to develop oil fields in Iran, won't back out of that agreement, signed in 1995, or stop seeking new ones because of the U.S. law, Desmarest said. . . . by CNB