Also

US West, which Qwest Communications International Inc. is buying for $48.6 billion, said it will sell high-speed access and other Internet services to businesses in California, extending beyond its 14-state region. The company will sell the services in cities starting with Sacramento now and San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose in the next several months, a US West statement said. Its Internet connections will include some that are almost 1,800 times faster than the best dial-up modems.

* QLogic Corp. reported a 58% increase in quarterly earnings in results that beat Wall Street estimates, welcome news for a company that has lost 39% of its value since it said it would buy a money-losing company at a hefty premium. The Aliso Viejo designer of chips and circuit boards linking computers and data-storage systems said that net income rose to $13.5 million, or 17 cents a share, for its fiscal fourth quarter, ended April 2. Last year, it earned $8.5 million, or 11 cents a share, for the final three months. Revenue rose 71% to $60.1 million from $35.1 million.

* GST Telecommunications Inc. shares fell 81% after the provider of voice, Internet and data services in the western U.S. warned that its cash is running out and that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection. The shares of GST fell $2.44 to close at 56 cents on Nasdaq. Vancouver, Wash.-based GST, which is building a fiber-optic network, said it sought other solutions to the liquidity crunch, though none has been successful.

* World Online International named MSNBC.com Chief Executive James Kinsella as chairman to succeed Nina Brink, who resigned April 13 amid charges that she had contributed to a 67% fall in the share price since March by misleading investors about her holding in the Dutch company.

* Bertelsmann’s Random House unit agreed to buy a minority stake in Audible Inc. and will create a unit within its audio-publishing group to deliver spoken books on the Internet through Audible’s Web site. Terms weren’t disclosed.