IN HAWAII

In HawaiiManagement shake up at Matson Navigation

Raymond L. Smith, chief operating officer of Matson Navigation Co., is leaving the company after less than a year on the job.

"It didn't work out," said corporate spokesman John Kelley.

At the same time, Alexander & Baldwin Inc. announced a management shuffle at its subsidiary. W. Allen Doane, president and chief executive of A&B, is being elevated to chairman of the board from vice chairman.

In addition, C. Bradley Mulholland, previously president and CEO of Matson, is being promoted to vice chairman of its board, reporting to Doane. James S. Andrasick, executive vice president and chief financial officer of A&B, has been given the extra interim duties of president and CEO of Matson, also reporting to Doane. Paul E. Stevens, previously senior vice president (ocean services) of Matson, has been promoted to executive vice president.

Meeting planners praise the HVCB

The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau has been awarded the Pinnacle Award for the 12th consecutive year by Successful Meetings magazine for excellence in the quality of its services and facilities.

HVCB was chosen from among more than 400 convention and visitor bureaus and tourist offices throughout North America and beyond.

The Pinnacle Award is the latest high-profile honor that HVCB has earned this year. In January, Hawaii was named as the second-most desirable convention destination among 40 convention sites in North America by a Metropoll IX study that surveyed more than 1,500 major decision-makers in the meetings industry.

ON THE MAINLAND

Northrop to buy TRW for $7.8 billion

CLEVELAND >> Defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed to buy TRW Inc. for $7.8 billion in stock, nearly $2 billion more than it originally offered earlier this year.

The deal announced yesterday, reached after four months of wrangling, will make Northrop the nation's second-largest defense contractor with projected annual revenue of more than $26 billion and approximately 123,000 workers.

Northrop said it will swap $60 worth of its stock for each TRW share, or 27 percent more than it had offered in February.

At that time, Northrop offered $5.9 billion in stock -- or $47 per share -- for Cleveland-based TRW, a defense, aerospace and auto parts company. TRW said that offer underestimated the value of the company and Los Angeles-based Northrop raised its bid to $6.7 billion, or $53 per share. That also was rejected, and TRW shareholders rejected several Northrop proposals to force TRW to accept the bid.

Northrop ultimately agreed to negotiate a new price TRW, which resulted in yesterday's announcement.

Amazon in talks with clothing retailers

SEATTLE >> Amazon.com is reportedly in talks with retailers to open a clothing store on its Web site in time for the holiday shopping season.

Retailers including Nordstrom and Gap Inc. may be included in the initial launch of a clothing store on the Amazon.com Web site this summer or fall, according to a report in The New York Times. Amazon and Nordstrom spokeswomen declined to comment on the report.

The Seattle-based Internet retailer, sells some clothing in a deal with Target.com.

In other news ...

WASHINGTON >> U.S. retail gasoline prices rose 0.8 cent to $1.392 a gallon in the week ended yesterday, the Department of Energy said. The gain left prices 5.6 percent lower than a year ago after the third straight weekly increase, the department said in a survey of about 900 filling stations.