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Viacom buys rest of Comedy Central

NEW YORK >> Viacom Inc., owner of MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime, reinforced its powerful cable channel lineup with a deal to buy the rest of Comedy Central from AOL Time Warner Inc. for $1.2 billion. The media giant also reported a profit for the first quarter.

New York-based Viacom already owns 50 percent of Comedy Central, which reaches 82 million U.S. households and features programs such as "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and the animated "South Park."

Media analyst James Goss of Barrington Research in Chicago said the deal makes sense for both Viacom and AOL.

"There was a general suspicion that this would be a logical transaction because AOL had expressed an interest in divesting certain divisions to raise cash to pay down its debt. Viacom is very strong financially and clearly interested in adding to its cable channel assets, which have been very profitable."

Viacom's cable networks division played a significant role in helping it post a net profit and record revenue in the first quarter.

For the January-March quarter, Viacom had net earnings of $443 million, or 25 cents a share, reversing last year's first-quarter net loss of $1.1 billion, or 63 cents a share.

Oil drops ahead of OPEC meeting

NEW YORK >> Oil prices slid more than 3 percent today ahead of an OPEC meeting expected to cut production and stop surplus supplies building up as fuel demand enters a seasonal lull.

The prospects of a resumption of Iraq's oil exports also improved after France's U.N. ambassador proposed suspending 12-year-old economic sanctions on Baghdad.

U.S. light crude settled down 96 cents at $29.91 a barrel, a drop of 3.1 percent on the day.

Traders expect the OPEC cartel meeting in Vienna on Thursday to chop excess production in an effort to prop up prices, which have fallen 30 percent in little over a month as Middle East oil flows escaped severe disruption from war in Iraq.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is producing 1.5 million barrels per day above its 24.5 million bpd official supply ceiling after raising output to compensate for the loss of Iraqi exports.

Lockheed, Raytheon sales rise

Bethesda, Md. >> Lockheed Martin Corp., the biggest U.S. military contractor, and rival Raytheon Co. reported increases in first-quarter sales, led by demand for fighter jets, missiles and radar.

Lockheed's net income rose 15 percent because of increased sales from work on the F/A-22 and Joint Strike Fighter programs. Raytheon, the maker of Stinger and Tomahawk missiles, boosted profit in all defense units. L-3 Communications Holdings Inc., a maker of flight displays, said earnings increased 10-fold.

The war in Iraq is fueling the U.S. military's demand for missiles, radar products and aircraft development leading to new and extended order contracts. The sales growth exceeded estimates, analysts said.

"The quality of earnings for this group is pretty high," said Keith Goddard, director of research at Capital Advisors Inc. "Lockheed repurchased shares and paid down debt, which is good stuff, and L-3 delivered at a time when many companies aren't."

Microsoft changes licensing deal

WASHINGTON >> Microsoft Corp. has made substantial revisions to the way it licenses Windows server software following a Justice Department request under the company's antitrust settlement, officials said yesterday.

Government lawyers filed papers yesterday in federal court stating that Microsoft also has agreed to eliminate a nondisclosure agreement covering the terms of these licenses it had previously imposed.

The revised licenses are expected to be available for public review on the Microsoft Internet site "within the next several days," a Justice Department statement said.

The licenses involve software protocols that allow non-Microsoft servers to communicate or interoperate with Windows' popular 2000 Professional, Windows XP and successor desktop software, according to a company statement. The protocols were available to others in the industry for payment of a royalty beginning last Aug. 6.

Cendant net income drops 10 percent

NEW YORK >> Cendant Corp. reported a 9.6 percent drop in first-quarter net income and lowered its outlook for the remainder of 2003, saying the war in Iraq and fears of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, have crimped travel plans.

The travel and real-estate company yesterday reported net income of $309 million, or 30 cents a share, down from net of $342 million, or 34 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Results matched a forecast the company gave in February. Cendant said its earnings were hurt by costs for the early retirement of debt and acquisition-related expenses.

Revenue rose 56 percent to $4.09 billion from $2.62 billion, helped by acquisitions.

Cendant owns Honolulu-founded Cheap tickets, hotel brands such as Ramada Inn and Howard Johnson, rental-car operator Avis Holdings Inc. and real-estate brands Century 21, Coldwell Banker and ERA.