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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, June 30, 2000

Bell-GTE merger becomes final

NEW YORK -- Bell Atlantic Corp. said it completed its $76 billion purchase of GTE Corp. to create Verizon Communications, the largest local-telephone company in the United States.

The deal includes GTE's holdings in Hawaii, including Hawaiian Tel, GTE Internet, and GTE Directories. Executives at Hawaii's largest telecommunications company have said they do not expect any major immediate changes. However the names of the local affiliates will change to reflect the Verizon parent.

U.S. regulators approved the deal earlier this month on the condition that the companies sell some overlapping wireless properties. Bell Atlantic's joint venture with Vodafone AirTouch Plc is the No. 1 wireless company in the United States.

The purchase of Irving, Texas-based GTE creates a company with more than 260,000 employees, 95 million phone lines and 25 million wireless customers. The combined company will start trading on the New York Stock Exchange Monday under the symbol "VZ." Before the purchase, Bell Atlantic had been the No. 2 local carrier behind SBC Communications Inc.

Aloha Air moving top executives

Aloha Airlines will move its top executives and the rest of its headquarters staff in September to office space in Waterfront Plaza at Restaurant Row, vacating its Honolulu Airport offices. Glenn R. Zander, Aloha's president and CEO, said it makes sense for the executive offices to be closer to the downtown center of Honolulu's business and government activities. Aloha is one of a number of new tenants, both commercial offices and restaurants, coming into the complex as it undergoes a revitalization, said Andrew D. Friedlander of the leasing and management agency, Colliers Monroe Friedlander.

In other news . . .

AT&T Corp. is considering selling or creating a tracking stock for its consumer long-distance service, according to Business Week. Tracking stocks are intended to follow the financial performance of a division but do not represent an ownership stake.