Enron revises finances, confirms Dynegy talks

NEW YORK >> Beleaguered Enron Corp. revised its financial statements for the past five years today to reflect previously unreported business dealings that sparked an investigation by securities regulators and caused its stock price to plummet nearly 80 percent.

The Houston-based energy trading giant also said it was holding talks with Dynegy Inc. relating to some form of business transaction. The New York Times reported Dynegy was considering buying Enron, its larger hometown rival for $8 billion.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Enron said financial statements from 1997 through the first half of 2001 "should not be relied upon" and that partnerships run by Enron officials during that period should have been consolidated into the company's the financial results.

Transactions between Enron and these partnerships -- Chewco Investments L.P., Joint Energy Development Investments L.P., and a wholly owned unit of LJM Cayman L.P. -- led in part to a controversial $1.2 billion reduction in the company's equity.

In other news ...

New York >> Salomon Smith Barney Inc. plans to eliminate as many as 300 investment banking jobs, or 10 percent of the division, as soon as next week and reassign some senior bankers, according to people familiar with the situation. Robert Morse and Michael Klein, co-heads of investment banking at Salomon Smith Barney, are leading the quarterly management meeting today for the 3,000-person division, the people said. The cutbacks are among the topics of discussion.

New York >> Shares of Barnes & Noble Inc. fell as much as 33 percent, their biggest one-day drop, after the largest U.S. bookseller said it had a fiscal third-quarter loss of 10 cents a share in the third quarter ended Nov. 3, and reduced earnings estimates for the year. Sales at stores in and around malls fell as much as 20 percent on Halloween as consumers stayed away for fear of more terrorist attacks, Barnes & Noble said. In addition, media exposure for authors was off as news organizations focused on the war, the company said.

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[Taking Notice]

NEW JOBS

>> Sprint Hawaii has named Thad Roemer as the company's sales network engineer. He will be responsible for assisting customers with the technical design, configuration and implementation of computer networks. Roemer joins Sprint Hawaii after serving on the data center design team at Sprint Internet.

>> Laurice Otsuka has joined HomeStreet Bank as a business banking loan officer. She will oversee all banking and lending operations for the bank's business banking program in the Hawaii region. Otsuka, who has more than 17 years of finance and accounting experience, previously served as finance/ accounting director at Unity House Inc.

PROMOTIONS

>> Gregory R. Patch has been promoted to marine maintenance manager at Young Brothers Ltd./Hawaiian Tug and Barge. He will be responsible for oversight of daily and long-term maintenance operations for the companies' 12 tugboats, nine cargo barges, generators and barge ramps.