BUSINESS BRIEFS
$20,000 gift to Wai'anae center
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Waste Management Inc.'s Hawai'i operation has donated $20,000 to help the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center build a new 26,000-square-foot medical building.
"We are committed to the health and safety of our customers and we are happy that we could help the health center as it expands to meet the needs of the local community, said Russell Nanod, Waste Management of Hawaii community affairs manager.
MICROSOFT FOES SEEK CRACKDOWN
BRUSSELS, Belgium — Microsoft Corp.'s rivals renewed their call Friday on EU regulators to act against what they say are "illegal practices," alleging that the new Vista operating system is the company's attempt to extend its monopoly to the Internet.
They asked the European Commission to make a decision "as fast as possible" on a complaint they filed last February. It had accused Microsoft of working to keep its existing monopolies and trying to extend its market dominance into other areas, including Web-based computing.
Microsoft had no immediate comment beyond saying that the rivals, represented by the group the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, were not saying anything new.
CAMERAS CAUGHT TRADE SECRET THEFT
ATLANTA — A former Coca-Cola secretary charged with conspiring to steal trade secrets from the beverage giant was caught on surveillance cameras removing documents from her office last June, sometimes late into the evening.
A Coca-Cola security expert testified yesterday at Joya Williams' trial that concealed cameras were installed at the Atlanta-based company's headquarters to monitor Williams' movements in different parts of the sprawling complex.
The surveillance video, played for the jury yesterday, was made after Pepsi received a letter last May purportedly from a co-defendant in the case stating that the person was willing to sell confidential Coca-Cola documents and samples of products that Coca-Cola was developing to the highest bidder.
CATERPILLAR SEES IMPROVED 2007
PEORIA, Ill. — Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Friday that higher operating costs trimmed fourth-quarter profit growth to 4 percent, but predicted strong results for 2007 despite an expected slowdown in U.S. machine and engine sales.
The forecast sent the company's shares up more than 2 percent in trading on the New York Stock Exchange, even though it mirrored a revised outlook issued three months ago that predicted Caterpillar's four-year sales surge would slow this year.
Net income for the fourth quarter grew to $882 million, or $1.32 per share, up from $846 million, or $1.20 per share, a year ago. But earnings fell short of Wall Street's expectations as higher production costs offset strong sales. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial predicted earnings per share of $1.34.
