BUSINESS BRIEFS
Rain checks offered for Wii
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Just what kids want under the Christmas tree this year: a rain check.
Nintendo Co. said yesterday it wouldn't be able to make enough of its fast-selling Wii video game consoles to keep store shelves stocked during the holidays. So the company plans to issue tens of thousands of vouchers to customers who come up empty-handed.
The "Wii Certificates" program could help Nintendo defuse criticism over the Wii shortages for a second consecutive holiday season and stem defections to rival consoles.
"The system has remained a sell-out virtually everywhere in America nonstop from the day it launched," said Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo's U.S. business. "There was no ability for us to stockpile systems over the summer to meet the holiday rush."
HOUSING TROUBLES SEEN UNTIL 2009
WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae's chief executive officer told shareholders yesterday he does not expect a housing market recovery until late 2009, "at the earliest," and that the mortgage-finance company is strong enough to ride out the downturn.
After posting a third-quarter loss of $1.4 billion, the largest U.S. buyer and guarantor of home mortgages recently cut its dividend and announced plans to sell $7 billion in preferred stock to raise capital to keep its cushion against risk within regulatory requirements.
One shareholder unconvinced by CEO Daniel Mudd's assurances was investor activist Evelyn Y. Davis, who rose at the meeting and urged the government-sponsored company's directors to replace Mudd with Louis Freeh, the former FBI director elected to the Fannie board last spring.
Davis, who often peppers corporate CEOs with questions at shareholder meetings, said she would not vote for any of the directors standing for re-election other than Freeh. Freeh previously was general counsel and ethics officer of credit-card issuer MBNA Corp.
MILLER LITE TRIES OUT CRAFT BEERS
MILWAUKEE — Miller Brewing Co. will test market three new versions of Miller Lite as the brewer tries to cash in on a growing consumer preference for craft beers.
Miller announced yesterday that it will test market the Miller Lite Brewers Collection in Minneapolis; Charlotte, N.C.; San Diego and Baltimore beginning in February. The three new versions of Miller Lite will be a blonde ale, an amber beer and a wheat beer — each with fewer calories and carbs than a typical beer for that style.
They could help establish a new beer industry category, what Miller Chief Marketing Officer Randy Ransom calls "craft-style light."
"The brewer who can provide a more refreshing and drinkable craft style can stake out a whole new niche in the market," Ransom said. "That's what we intend to do."
Miller said the three new beers will target mainstream drinkers and capitalize on trends that favor light beer, greater variety of beer styles and a willingness to pay more for higher-quality beers.
ONLINE ADS SEE 25% GROWTH
NEW YORK — Online advertising jumped 25 percent this year, raking in a cool $20 billion, but Internet executives say that figure could have been even higher if advertisers had reliable and consistent ways to measure online audiences.
Unlike traditional media, where each format has one main ratings provider — The Nielsen Co. for television, Arbitron Inc. for radio and so on — there are many sources of data on online audiences. And they frequently conflict.
Disagreement also continues over which criteria best gauge users' potential interest in a product or service. And the resulting data aren't easily comparable to ratings in other media anyway.
Web publishers are frustrated that the lack of cohesion is holding them back from capturing more of the $250-billion-a-year U.S. advertising pie, especially given the huge amount of time people spend online.
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