Also
* A U.S. court approved NextWave Telecom Inc.’s plan to sell wireless licenses covering 34 markets to Cingular Wireless for $1.4 billion in cash. The decision boosts the wireless holdings of Cingular, a joint venture of BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications Inc., in markets such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. Only Cingular submitted an offer for the licenses, which cover 83 million customers.
* Vans Inc. of Santa Fe Springs said net income rose to $6.6 million for its fiscal first quarter ended in August from net income of $5.4 million for the same period last year. Revenue rose to $128 million from $123 million.
* Portland General Electric, an Enron Corp. subsidiary, has agreed to pay a reported $8.5 million to resolve claims it illegally manipulated power prices, Oregon’s Public Utility Commission said. The settlement includes a $1.3-million payment to the state and some power consumers, with the rest likely to go to California and the city of Tacoma, Wash.
* Gateway Inc., a Poway, Calif.-based personal computer maker that has lost money in 10 of the last 11 quarters, is offering interest-free leases on servers, computers and data storage equipment for businesses, governments and schools.
* IBM Corp. is cutting 400 jobs in its software division, mainly marketing and administrative positions, as part of a regular reassessment of operations, a spokesman said. The Armonk, N.Y.-based company said 1% of IBM’s 38,000 software employees, including those in Cupertino, Calif., are affected.
* The Tennessee Supreme Court turned away a challenge to a shareholder vote that approved Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s $1.7-billion acquisition of Clayton Homes Inc.
* Microsoft Corp., the world’s largest software maker, won a dismissal of a lawsuit by Wisconsin company Hyperphrase Technologies that claimed Microsoft’s Office XP “Smart Tag” technology infringed its patents.
* Qantas Airways, Singapore Airlines and other carriers were diverting international flights from Sydney, Australia, after a jet fuel shortage at the airport, less than a month before an estimated 40,000 visitors are expected to arrive for the Rugby World Cup. Sydney’s Kingsford Smith airport, the busiest in Australia, is rationing fuel after suppliers Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Caltex Australia Ltd., BP and Exxon Mobil Corp. said they could meet only 35% of demand.
