Taking Notice
NEW JOBS
>> Susan Merrill has been named hospital administrator at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. She is responsible for the operation of Kaiser's 250-bed acute care hospital, its 28-bed skilled nursing facility and Kaiser Permanente Home Health. Merrill returns to Hawaii after serving as hospital administrator at The Women's Hospital at Centennial Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.>> Nolan N. Kawano has been named vice president and chief financial officer at Island Insurance Cos. He will be responsible for the management of all financial aspects of the company. Kawano previously served as vice president and treasurer at First Insurance Co.
>> Darren M. Suzuki has been named an associate at the law firm of White and Tom.
>> Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has hired Cindy Bento, Leslie R. Gil, Kelly Mao and Jay S. Marion in the New Agent Training Office as sales associates. Bento mosrt recently owned Flowers by Cindy in Kaneohe. Gil was a realtor associate for Century 21. In addition, Frankie Anderson has joined the firm's Kapiolani Office as a sales associate. He was most recently a vice president at Mary Worrall Associates and has more than 25 years of industry experience.
>> Jason Loder has joined Xerox Hawaii as a marketing representative. He will service the Ward, Kapiolani and Ala Moana areas. Loder joins Xerox Hawaii after serving as a sales team manager at Bug Professional Pest Control.
PROMOTIONS
>> Bank of Hawaii recently announced promotions for Todd Nohara, senior vice president and Metro Oahu regional sales director; Stephanie L. Saito, senior vice president and commercial deposit management center manager; Eileen A. Sakai, senior vice president and commercial banking service and support manager; Lester Stiefel, senior vice president and human resources relationship management mana- ger; Cindy L. Thomas, senior vice president and strategic marketing group manager; and Kelly K. Walsh, senior vice president and corporate compliance manager.BACK TO TOP
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Japan GDP shrank 1.2% during fourth quarter
TOKYO >> Japan's economy contracted 1.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the same as initially estimated, government figures showed.The decline from the previous quarter was the third in a row, capping the longest slide in gross domestic product since the end of World War II.
While exports have risen the past three months, there's little sign that's spreading to a broader recovery. The economy was sunk in the fourth quarter by a record 12 percent slide in business spending, and companies such as Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. plan to trim spending and cut jobs as they seek to return to profit.
GM-Daewoo may sign oft-delayed deal in May
SEOUL >> General Motors Corp. and creditors of Daewoo Motor Co. may sign a final agreement on the sale of the insolvent automaker's assets next month, the latest in a series of delays, Korea Development Bank said.The signing might slip into May because the two sides are still working on the wording of the contract and have to resolve some issues, Korea Development Bank's Governor Jung Keon Yong was quoted as saying by bank spokesman Shim Sang Hoon. Korea Development Bank is the main creditor of insolvent Daewoo Motor.
General Motors, which wants to use Daewoo as an export base in Asia, has struggled to overcome worker opposition to the purchase and settle its own concerns about hidden debt since it began talks in 1999.
Mexico consumer prices climb 0.5 percent in April
MEXICO CITY >> Mexican consumer prices climbed 0.5 percent in the first half of April due to a rise in the cost of tomatoes, cooking gas and oranges, the central bank said.Prices climbed more than the 0.2 percent rise expected by seven economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Prices rose 0.3 percent in March.
Mexico's central bank is aiming to keep the inflation rate at 4.5 percent this year, little changed from 4.4 percent last year. It wants to lower inflation to 3 percent by 2003.
"Inflation is more or less under control and there is no danger to the central bank's objective," said Jose Miguel Moreno, an economist at Stone & McCarthy Research Associates in Mexico City.
The central bank showed it isn't concerned about a possible spike in inflation when it moved to lower interest rates on Apr. 12 by increasing the amount of credit it makes available to banks.
The core inflation rate, which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent in the first two weeks of April.
Ordonez new president at Celera Genomics
ROCKVILLE, Md. >> Kathy Ordonez was named president of the Celera Genomics Group, replacing founder J. Craig Venter as head of the company best known for mapping the human genome.Ordonez was previously president of Celera Diagnostics, one of three operating groups, including the Celera Genomics Group, run by Norwalk, Conn.-based Applera. Venter resigned in January but retained a position as scientific adviser. Ordonez will keep her responsibilities as president of Celera Diagnostics.
Venter was the driving force behind Celera's sequencing of the human genetic code, but stepped aside as the company began a shift toward drug development.
Ex-Sotheby's chief sentenced to a year
NEW YORK >> Former Sotheby's Holdings Inc. Chairman A. Alfred Taubman was sentenced to one year in federal prison for conspiring with Christie's International Plc to fix commissions on art, antiques, and other valuables.Defense lawyers had urged U.S. District Judge George Daniels to sentence the 78-year-old Taubman to probation, noting his poor health and philanthropy, Bloomberg News reported. Prosecutors asked for the maximum: three years in prison.
Daniels also ordered Taubman to pay a $7.5 million fine. The judge said Taubman showed no contrition for his crimes and portrayed himself as a victim of perjury and lies.
"He has neither acknowledged any personal responsibility, nor shown any remorse," Daniels said. "No one is above the law."
Rite Aid execs repay loans with falling shares
WASHINGTON >> Rite Aid Corp. will reduce profit by $1.3 million to cover costs tied to executive loans, adding to the list of businesses that have experienced trouble while lending money to top officers.The drug store chain lent about $5.9 million to help top executives, including Chairman Robert Miller, pay taxes on stock awards, Bloomberg News reported. The executives had the option of canceling the loans by returning shares pledged as collateral, even if the stock had declined in value.
The program at Rite Aid permitted executives to benefit if company shares increased while protecting them in the event of a decline. "That is another instance where executives are really shielded from the realities of the stock market," said Judith Fischer, managing director of Executive Compensation Advisory Services in Alexandria, Va.
WorldCom CEO Ebbers got no bonus last year
WASHINGTON >> WorldCom Inc. President and Chief Executive Bernie Ebbers didn't get a bonus in 2001, despite having received a $10 million one in 2000.According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, WorldCom said the compensation and stock option committee of its board decided not to award bonuses to certain executives in 2001 because of the performance of WorldCom's common stock.
WorldCom also said Ebbers received a salary of $1 million in 2001, unchanged from 2000.
Gold Fields poised to overtake AngloGold
JOHANNESBURG >> Gold Fields Ltd., South Africa's second-largest gold producer, is poised to overtake bigger rival AngloGold Ltd. as the most valuable gold company on the Johannesburg stock exchange.Gold Fields is benefiting from a sales strategy designed to exploit rising prices for gold, which has jumped 16 percent in the past year to $304.55 an ounce. AngloGold, in contrast, locked in sales when prices were lower.
The challenge marks a turnaround from just 15 months ago, when AngloGold was worth twice as much on the stock exchange and considering a takeover bid for Gold Fields. The industry in South Africa, the world's largest gold-producing nation, is posting record profit because of falling costs and rising prices.
Gold Fields "is firing on all cylinders," said Mark Arthur, a fund manager at Standard and Corporate Merchant Bank. "The company is managed very, very well."
Shares of Gold Fields have surged more than fourfold since word of a possible takeover approach from AngloGold leaked on Jan. 19, 2001.