Also

* Advertising spending rose just 0.41% to $23.5 billion in the first quarter, advertising data company CMR said. Network television advertising rose 6.2% to $5.6 billion, while cable TV advertising fell 15.9% to $2.1 billion. Magazine advertising declined 10.6% to $3.3 billion, and newspaper ad revenue grew 8.5% to $4.7 billion.

* The former owner of Fingerhut Cos. and a business partner said they’re buying a portion of the catalog retailer from Federated Department Stores Inc. in a deal that may save thousands of jobs in Minnesota. Ted Deikel, who led Fingerhut from 1990 and oversaw its sale to Federated in 1999, and Tom Petters said they will buy real estate, inventory and other Fingerhut assets. They declined to say how much they are paying.

* MGM Mirage said it will break ground next year on a $1.5-billion casino and hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. The projects are part of a wave of construction in Atlantic City, where casino operators are trying to attract more gamblers from Indian casinos in Connecticut and elsewhere by developing glitzier, Las Vegas-style casinos. Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. on Wednesday opened a 25-story tower at its Atlantic City casino.

* ConAgra Foods Inc. said it will sell control of its feedlots and slaughterhouses for $1.23 billion to focus on more profitable branded foods. Buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc. and Booth Creek Management Corp. would own 54% of a joint-venture company called Swift & Co. ConAgra would own the rest.

* Medtronic Inc. said profit in its fiscal fourth quarter rose 16% to $422 million, or 34 cents a share, matching analyst estimates. The largest maker of medical devices said sales rose 18% to $1.79 billion.

* Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. said fourth-quarter net income was virtually flat at $48 million, or 48 cents a share, as sales rose 3.3% to $556.3 million. The company also said earnings may fall short of estimates in the next two quarters.