Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, July 28, 2000

City Bank's parent raises dividend

CB Bancshares Inc. said it is increasing its quarterly dividend by 43 percent to 10 cents a share from 7 cents. The company said the increase was because of continuing earnings growth and the successful merger of its two subsidiaries, City Bank and International Savings & Loan Association.

The company last week reported a second-quarter profit of $2.77 million, up 26 percent from a year-earlier. The dividend for the third quarter will be paid Sept. 28 to stockholders of record Sept. 15.

30-year mortgages fall to 8.13 percent

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage rates fell this week with 30-year mortgages dropping to their lowest level since April. The average interest rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages declined to 8.13 percent this week, compared with 8.21 percent last week, according to a survey released yesterday by Freddie Mac, the mortgage company. In mid May, rates on 30-year mortgages hit a five-year high of 8.64 percent.

Fifteen-year mortgages also fell this week, dropping to 7.85 percent, down from 7.93 percent last week. One-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged an initial rate of 7.29 percent, down from last week's 7.32 percent. The rates do not include add-on fees known as points, which averaged at or just over 1 percent of the loan amount for all three types of mortgages.

Bank of America cutting 10,000 jobs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bank of America Corp. will cut as many as 10,000 jobs across the country over the next year to improve its earnings and efficiency.

The cuts, about 7 percent of the Charlotte-based bank's 150,000-person work force, will focus on middle-and upper-level management as well as jobs made unnecessary by improvements in efficiency, the bank said today. Hugh L. McColl, Jr., the company's chairman and CEO, said the days of the banking company's rapid, nationwide expansion from its North Carolina base are over and it needs to concentrate on improving its daily business.

Nortel acquiring Alteon WebSystems

BRAMPTON, Ontario -- Nortel Networks Corp., the Canadian-based maker of phone equipment, agreed to buy Alteon WebSystems Inc. for $7.2 billion in stock to add products its customers need to run Web sites for companies. Nortel will pay 1.83148 shares for each Alteon share. That values San Jose, Calif.-based Alteon at $132.78 a share, below yesterday's close of $143. Nortel said it expects to complete the purchase in the fourth quarter.

In other news . . .

NEW YORK -- Network equipment maker 3Com Corp. said today it had completed its spin-off of its Palm Inc. unit, a maker of Palm handheld computers. 3Com, Santa Clara, Calif., unloaded its 94 percent Palm stake after trading ended yesterday by distributing 1.484 Palm shares for each 3Com share, a value of $52.77 in Palm shares for each 3Com share.