News In Brief

In a new blow to the Internet economy, Yahoo!, once the most-visited Web destination and one of its biggest financial successes, warned that first-quarter earnings will come in at "approximately break-even" - far short of analysts' expectations. The San Jose, Calif.-based portal cited lost ad revenue and a declining economy for its struggle to turn a profit. Yahoo! also said it's looking for a new chief executive to succeed Tim Koogle, who has been with the company since 1995. Koogle will stay on as chairman.

J.C. Penney will sell its direct marketing services unit to the fast-expanding Dutch insurance company Aegon NV for $1.3 billion, the companies announced. The acquisition gives Aegon an additional client base in the US and Canada of 12 million people, most of whom have bought life, accident, or supplemental health insurance via credit cards. The deal is the third for Aegon in the US in four years. In 1997 it paid $2.6 billion for the insurance business of Providian Financial Corp. and in 1999 it bought Transamerica Corp. for $10.8. Both of the latter are based in San Francisco.

Trans World Airlines directors chose a sweetened $742 million offer from AMR Corp.'s American Airlines as its preferred bid and are expected to recommend that to a federal bankruptcy court today. The board rejected several other offers for the bankrupt airline, among them one from ex-owner Carl Icahn. American agreed to increase its initial bid by $242 million to help cover a larger portion of TWA's debts.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor