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Justice Department investigating Boeing

CHICAGO >> Boeing Co., the No. 2 U.S. defense contractor, said the Justice Department and the Air Force are investigating accusations the company used documents illegally obtained from Lockheed Martin Corp. to beat its larger rival for a military-rocket contract.

The Air Force's inquiry may lead to Boeing's suspension or exclusion from future contracts, the Wall Street Journal reported. That would be a potential setback to Chief Executive Phil Condit's strategy of bolstering defense-related sales during a slump in jetliner deliveries. Boeing isn't likely to face serious penalties if it's found culpable, an analyst said.

"Piracy is nothing new in the aerospace industry," said JSA Research analyst Paul Nisbet, who has a "buy" rating on Boeing stock, which he said he doesn't own. "No one gets a lock on any technology for any length of time."

"There is an ongoing investigation and Boeing is cooperating," said Boeing spokesman Dan Beck, who declined to provide more details.

Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Meghan Mariman and Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra declined to comment.

USA Interactive buys LendingTree

CHARLOTTE, N.C. >> Barry Diller is adding another piece to the online mosaic of USA Interactive today with an agreement to purchase LendingTree Inc. for up to $734 million in stock.

The deal, which is expected to close by late summer, puts his company, which already controls the online travel services Expedia and Hotels.com, in the Web-based real estate loan business. USA Interactive also owns Ticketmaster and the Home Shopping Network.

"For several years now we have been saying that the most exciting sector is in both financial services and real estate," Diller, chairman and chief executive of USA Interactive, said in a statement. "We waited appropriately long enough to find the perfect solution -- LendingTree."

Diller, a longtime entertainment industry figure who headed the Fox and Paramount studios, has in recent years championed the possibilities of marrying entertainment and electronic commerce.

LendingTree operates a lending exchange which matches borrowers with more than 200 brokers, banks and other lenders. It doesn't make loans itself.

Job not secure? Better get saving

Besides emergencies and retirement, there's another important reason to maximize your savings -- job insecurity. The weak economy has left many Americans unemployed, and analysts say the amount of time needed to find a new job is growing.

As a result, you could confront a painful interim between your severance package and landing a new job. With severance pay averaging about 10 weeks, that gap is now two months over the 18-week average search period, according to research by Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., the Chicago-based outplacement firm.

In 2000, for example, severance lasted an average of 18 weeks and the average job search lasted 13 weeks, giving jobless managers and executives a five-week safety net, the company said. In the nine quarters between the end of 1998 and the fourth quarter of 2000, severance was even more generous, with an average of 20 weeks for managers and executives.

The new, leaner severance periods come mainly from companies offering small packages as they struggle to cut costs.

Technology job market still bleak, survey finds

Technology job hunters will find slim pickings for at least another year, according to a new survey released today.

Demand for information technology positions ranging from software programmers to network engineers will hold steady or decline in the next 12 months, according to a telephone poll of 400 hiring managers by the Arlington, Va.-based Information Technology Association of America.

The survey found there are about 493,000 unfilled technology jobs in the United States, down from 1.6 million open positions at the start of 2000. The United States has about 10.3 million technology jobs.

The tight market for technology jobs comes as hundreds of American companies outsource positions to smaller engineering and programming firms in India, China, Russia and other countries with inexpensive labor forces.

Nearly one in four large technology companies surveyed said they had already outsourced technology work to foreign countries.

Gas prices dip 18 cents from March 21 peak

CAMARILLO, Calif. >> Gas prices dropped 6.44 cents per gallon over the past two weeks as crude oil prices continued to fall in the wake of the Iraq war, according to an industry report yesterday.

The average price for gas nationwide, including all grades and taxes, was about $1.58 per gallon Friday, according to the Lundberg Survey of 8,000 stations. On April 18, the date of the last Lundberg Survey, gas cost about $1.64 a gallon.

It was the third straight two-week drop, adding up to a decline of more than 18 cents per gallon since prices peaked March 21 at an average of $1.76 per gallon, said analyst Trilby Lundberg.

On May 3, 2002, the average price of gas was $1.45 per gallon.

Oil prices have been dropping since the war in Iraq ended without the destruction of Iraq's oil fields.

The downward gas price trend could continue, Lundberg said.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

New jobs

>> Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has named Judith Butler assistant broker-in-charge of its Leeward office. She is responsible for strategic planning, financial management, marketing strategies and personnel support. Butler has more than eight years of experience in real estate.

>> Atlantis Adventures has hired Anna Coffeen as advertising and public relations coordinator. She will develop all promotional materials to support the company's sales and marketing efforts and monitor their quality. She was most recently an advertising and marketing assistant with Oahu Publications, now known as MidWeek Printing Inc., parent company of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

>> Robert Leiferman has joined Finance Factors as a residential loan officer in the company's new Maui Mortgage Center. He most recently served as a GE Capital Hawaii branch manager.

Promotions

>> Brendan Mahoney has been named Waikiki Beach Marriott Hotel's executive chef. He assumes the responsibility of creating menus, supervising 72 employees, and guiding the hotel's Kuhio Beach Grill, Moana Terrace Cafe and Bar, catering and roomservice. He was most recently executive chef at Maui Marriott.

>> Trilogy Excursions of Maui has promoted Mike Jones to scuba manager, safety manager and head of quality assurance.

On the board

>> The Hawaii Branch of the International Dyslexia Association has named Sue Voit co-president of community services and liaison on the Big Island and Susan Walker Kowen vice president. New directors are Cal Sakata, Leila Lee and Stafford Kiguchi, who also will act as public awareness chair.