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ALL ABOARD

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Beckley Stanford waited yesterday to be interviewed for a job with Norwegian Cruise Line. The cruise line is hiring 3,000 people to staff an expanded Hawaii cruise schedule that begins next year. Also filling out an application yesterday during a job fair at the Waikiki Beach Marriott was Daniel Mahiko Jr. The fair continues 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

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Judge stops Mainline from doing business

A college student who sold super-cheap airfare between Honolulu and Los Angeles over the Internet was barred yesterday from operating his business in Hawaii.

Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo granted the state a preliminary injunction against 18-year-old Luke R. Thompson, who founded Mainline Airways LLC from his dormitory at Babson College near Boston.

Thompson, of Yardley, Pa., testified in court via telephone yesterday and agreed to the preliminary injunction.

"The injunction does not hurt the company in any way because everything it provides we already have been doing voluntarily because of other factors," Thompson said. "There's no way we could operate profitably."

Thompson blamed bad publicity for his venture, which failed to get off the ground.

A total of 121 people booked flights between Los Angeles and Honolulu through a Web site for as little as $89. The flights had been scheduled to begin last week.

Authorities in Hawaii and Massachusetts, which have been granted court orders against Thompson and his company, say Mainline was nothing more than a Web site.

"The old adage applies," said Michael Moriyama, attorney with the state Office of Consumer Protection. "If it sounds too good to be true, it's likely that it is."

Ex-Citigoup exec faces charges

NEW YORK >> Securities regulators have notified the former chief of global research at Citigroup Inc. that he may face civil charges for rules violations, a sign they are moving ahead in their investigation of possible wrongdoing at Wall Street's executive level.

John B. Hoffmann, 63, would be the highest-ranking Wall Street executive to face charges in the sweeping regulatory probe of conflicts of interest in stock research. His attorney, Charles Stillman, confirmed yesterday that Hoffmann is cooperating with the National Association of Securities Dealers, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Stock Exchange.

Yahoo in black for fifth quarter

SAN FRANCISCO >> Yahoo! Inc. announced its fifth consecutive quarter of profitability yesterday, and the Internet portal boosted expectations for earnings in the second half of the year.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based bellwether reported net income of $50.8 million, or 8 cents per share, in the second quarter. It earned $21.4 million, or 3 cents per share, in the same period last year. The results matched the 8 cents per share estimate among analysts polled by Thomson First Call.

Net revenues for the second quarter totaled $321.4 million, a 42 percent increase over the $225.8 million a year ago.

The company also boosted its third quarter revenue forecast to at least $318 million and for the calendar year to at least $1.26 billion.

Pfizer, Glaxo cut AIDS drug prices

NEW YORK >> Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline yesterday became the latest drug companies to slash prices of their AIDS drugs for cash-strapped, state-run programs that treat the poor, uninsured and underinsured.

Pfizer said it will provide millions of dollars of drugs either free or at greatly reduced prices to AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, or ADAPs, which are run by the states and U.S. territories using a combination of state and federal funds to treat patients.

Pfizer spokesman Nehl Horton said the exact amount of its donation would depend on states' needs but the company wouldn't disclose it anyway. Meanwhile, GlaxoSmithKline said it will provide a $20 million package of cash and credits to the programs. GlaxoSmithKline is the market leader in AIDS treatments.

Pechiney board rejects Alcan takeover bid

PARIS >> French aluminum producer Pechiney SA said yesterday that its board unanimously rejected a $3.87 billion unsolicited takeover bid by Alcan Inc. as "clearly inadequate." Alcan said its offer stood.

In a statement after a meeting late Tuesday, Pechiney said a deal would cause too much uncertainty for the company while European Union competition authorities reviewed it.

Alcan's bid, made Monday, would create the world's largest aluminum company in terms of revenue, with $22.9 billion in annual sales, surpassing U.S.-based Alcoa, which had about $20 billion in revenue last year.

Montreal-based Alcan insisted it was holding firm on its offer, valued $46.65 per share.

In other news ...

>> Led by continued strong sales of its cancer drugs, biotechnology company Genentech Inc. reported a second quarter profit of $132.3 million, or 25 cents a share, reversing a loss from a year earlier.

>> The historic wave of home refinancings, which has fueled U.S. consumer spending, looks like it may have crested -- the Mortgage Bankers Association yesterday said its refinancing index, which tracks the number of new applications, fell 21.3 percent to 6769.3 last week.

>> Lunch for eight with billionaire Warren Buffett, chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and the world's second-richest man, is attracting bids of as much as $95,100 after four days on EBay Inc.'s Internet auction site.