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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Wednesday, August 16, 2000

SBA help businesses land federal deals

The U.S. Small Business Administration will hold two workshops in Honolulu next week, aimed at helping local businesses get their share of federal procurement dollars. The first, next Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., will be conducted with the help of the Hawaii Women's Business Center and will show businesses owned by women how they can win federal contracts. The second session, from 9 a.m. to noon on Aug. 24, will be a general seminar for small-business contractors of all types. That session will be supported by the Hawaii Small Business Development Center. In each case there is a $10-per-person fee. Reservations may be made with the SBA's Business Information and Counseling Center, 522-8130. The meetings will be held at the center, Suite 204 at 1111 Bishop St.

Online wine sites plan to combine

SAN FRANCISCO -- The two leading Internet wine companies, Wine.com and WineShopper.com, plan to merge in hopes of becoming the primary online destination for wine advice, ratings and reviews.

The two companies will take the Wine.com name and Internet address. The new company is expected to launch sometime next year, the companies announced yesterday. The CEOs of both companies -- Bill Newlands of Wine.com and Peter Sisson of WineShopper.com -- will serve on the new company's board of directors.

In other news . . .

PALOALTO, Calif. -- Hewlett-Packard Co., the world's No. 2 computer maker, said after the market closed today that fiscal third-quarter profit rose on higher sales of personal computers, printers and the powerful servers that run Internet sites. The company also unveiled a 2-for-1 stock split. Profit from continuing operations rose to $1.03 billion, or 99 cents a share, from $696 million, or 66 cents, a year earlier. Analysts were expecting 85 cents a share. The shares of the company rose $1.44 to $111.44 in regular trading and then soared to $120 after the release.