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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Tuesday, June 20, 2000

Tatibouet on leave from Aston post

Andre Tatibouet has been placed on administrative leave from the post of president of Aston Hotels & Resorts, the Hawaii subsidiary of ResortQuest International Inc., ResortQuest lawyers said yesterday.

ResortQuest has sued Tatibouet, claiming he illegally sold the use of the Aston name to a ResortQuest competitor, Cendant Corp.

Tatibouet's lawyer, James Bickerton, said his client owns the Aston name and has a right to license it to others. Also, Tatibouet has not been forced out and stepped aside voluntarily when the dispute with ResortQuest began, Bickerton said. He said Tatibouet, who sold his Hawaii hotel company to ResortQuest in 1998 and owns more than 7 percent of ResortQuest's shares, has no reason to damage the parent company because he has a major personal stake in it.

Hawaii BBB warns of credit card scam

The Better Business Bureau of Hawaii is warning isle residents to beware of a scam involving telemarketers trying to sell credit card protection.

The agency says the pitch is made that people without "protection" in the form of credit card insurance are liable for all losses on their card should it be lost or stolen. The agency says individuals are responsible for only the first $50 of unauthorized charges on their cards under federal law, and that the people making the calls are only trying to get credit card numbers to commit fraud. The agency says to think twice before giving out personal information to people you don't know.

Pfizer gets approval on Warner-Lambert

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators have approved a merger that will leave one company dominating many U.S. medicine cabinets.

The $90 billion merger of Pfizer Inc. and Warner-Lambert Co., approved yesterday by the Federal Trade Commission, will put many of the world's best-known over-the-counter brands under one company name.

The deal is expected to make the new Pfizer the largest pharmaceutical company in the world.