Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, September 16, 1997
NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs & Co., whose major investors include Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, said today that profits rose 58 percent to a record $932 million in the third quarter despite the volatility in financial markets worldwide. Goldman Sachs posts
record quarterThe closely held investment bank said pretax earnings for the quarter ended Aug. 31 climbed to $932 million from $589 million a year earlier. Bishop Estate has about an 11 percent stake in the company. Goldman said the latest figure was the highest for any quarter in its history, beating the old record of $928 million in the third quarter of 1993.
The company is the first big securities firm to report third-quarter profits and the strong results could signal higher earnings for two of its biggest rivals, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, Discover & Co.
The company said sales in the quarter rose to $2.23 billion from $1.47 billion while expenses grew to $1.3 billion from $879 million.
LAS VEGAS -- A federal judge denied ITT Corp.'s motion to dismiss Hilton Hotels Corp. claims that ITT management is failing to properly serve shareholders in breaking up the company through spinoffs and the sale of hotels. Judge denies ITT's bid
to drop Hilton's claimsThe ruling stems from claims Hilton filed earlier this summer that ITT is breaching its fiduciary duty in response to Hilton's takeover offer by not meeting with Hilton management, and instead pursuing the sale of assets without shareholder consent. ITT later filed a motion to dismiss the claims.
"Hilton's claims cannot be dismissed ... The court finds that there exists genuine issues of material facts regarding the claims," Judge Philip Pro of the District of Nevada ruled.
The ruling comes two weeks before a hearing in Nevada during which Hilton will try to get the court to block ITT's planned split into three companies. That hearing will be held Sept. 29.
LONDON -- American Airlines and British Airways should know by the end of the year whether their proposed alliance will fly or not, an executive said today. AA exec: Alliance's
prospects known soonAmerican's president, Don Carty, avoided predicting whether regulators will kill the alliance by attaching too many conditions -- but he said this should become clear within the next 60 to 90 days.
"Is there a deal there that still might make commercial sense for American and British Airways? I don't know yet," Carty told journalists. "We're not going to do a deal where the numbers don't add up."