BUSINESS BRIEFS
Verizon, AT&T dominate auction for U.S. airwaves
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The two largest cell phone companies dominated bidding in a record-setting government airwaves auction, according to results released yesterday.
AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless combined to account for $16 billion of the $19.6 billion bid in the auction, an Associated Press analysis of the Federal Communications Commission data shows. Verizon Wireless bid $9.4 billion and AT&T $6.6 billion.
The results raised concern that the auction failed to attract any new competitors to the cellular telephone market to challenge the dominant companies.
NEW DATA RENEW RECESSION FEARS
NEW YORK — A rise in jobless claims and a drop in a key forecasting gauge provided the latest evidence that the U.S. economy is faltering and may be slipping into recession.
The Conference Board, a business-backed research group, said yesterday that its index of leading economic indicators fell in February for the fifth consecutive month.
The index, which is designed to forecast where the nation's economy is headed in the next three to six months, dipped 0.3 percent to 135.0 in February after slumping 0.4 percent the month before.
In Washington, meanwhile, the Labor Department said that applications for unemployment benefits totaled 378,000 last week. That was an increase of 22,000 from the previous week and the highest level in nearly two months.
The four-week average for new claims rose to 365,250, which was the highest level since a flood of claims caused by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes.
DATA BREACH ADDS TO SECURITY HOLES
PORTLAND, Maine — At first, it sounded like another in a long line of credit card breaches: Up to 4.2 million account numbers were stolen by thieves who cracked computers at Hannaford Bros. Co., an Eastern supermarket chain.
But the specifics of the crime, revealed this week, included some troubling twists that might expose big holes in the payment industry's security standards.
For one thing, Hannaford said this sensitive data were exposed when shoppers swiped their cards at checkout line machines and the information was transmitted to banks for approval.
While thieves have commonly pilfered payment card data sitting in databases maintained by merchants or card processors, the Hannaford episode appears to represent a new line of attack: the first large-scale piracy of card data while the information was in transit.
7 UNITED 747 JETS GET SAFETY CHECK
CHICAGO — United Airlines said yesterday it had to carry out unscheduled maintenance on seven of its Boeing 747 jets but found no safety-related issues.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency did not order the grounding of United's planes, as at least one report indicated.
United's disclosure was not related to the FAA's check of maintenance records at all U.S. airlines, ordered after revelations surfaced about missed safety inspections at Southwest Airlines Co., Gregor said.
United spokeswoman Jean Medina said one of the jets was back in service yesterday afternoon and the other six were to return on schedule later.
The between-flights maintenance took longer than expected but there were no delays to passenger service, she said.
STARBUCKS TO PAY $100M IN BACK TIPS
SAN DIEGO — A Superior Court judge ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee behemoth had paid to shift supervisors.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction yesterday that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips.
Cowett said the practice was a violation of a state law that prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee tips.
