Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, June 11, 1999

Schall appointed to HTA board

Peter Schall, managing director of Hilton Hawaiian Village, was appointed to the Hawaii Tourism Authority yesterday by Gov. Ben Cayetano to fill the seat left vacant by last month's resignation of former Chairman John Reed. Schall, who also is a board member for the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, has spent 34 of his 42 years in the hospitality industry with Hilton.

Cayetano picked Schall from a list of names submitted by Senate President Norman Mizuguchi. The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation during the 2000 legislative session.

Hawaii Land & Farming shuffles top officers

Hawaii Land & Farming Co., which said in March it was selling control of the company to Hawaii developer Stanford S. Carr., announced the termination yesterday of President and CEO Seth A. Bakes and the appointment of Scott Okada to interim president.

The Wailuku-based company also said that Milwaukee Holdings LLC, a Hawaii limited liability company affiliated with Carr, has agreed to amend its stock purchase agreement with Hawaii Land stockholders.

Under terms of the amendment, Milwaukee Holdings will get majority control of Hawaii Land through buying extra shares of the company's Class A and B common stock for 50 cents a share. Milwaukee Holdings also will proceed with a cash merger of the company, stock redemption, or tender offer, so that all remaining shareholders get at least 50 cents per share. The closing of the stock purchase agreement is July 15.

EBay suspends auction service

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- EBay Inc., the Internet's leading auctioneer, was forced to suspend its auction business last night due to problems with its database server. EBay posted an announcement on its site today saying it found the cause of the problem and was expecting to resume business at 11 a.m. today Hawaii time. Ebay shares plunged $16.81 today to close at $165.87 on the Nasdaq stock market.

In other news . . .

Japan said it will increase employment by 700,000 through new government hiring, increased subsidies to companies to hire workers and more competition among domestic industries. The aim is to reduce the jobless lines by a fifth.

The Russell 2000, the benchmark index for small stocks, received its annual overhaul after the close of trading today. The reshuffling will cause the loss of several Internet-related stocks, such as CMGI Inc., E*Trade Group Inc. and Lycos Inc., who had boosted the index's performance.

CMGI, an Internet venture fund, closed down $11.75 to $89.75 on the Nasdaq today after reporting after yesterday's market close that it had a fiscal third-quarter loss of 30 cents a share, as operating expenses almost doubled. The company was expected to lose 13 cents in the quarter ended April 30.