Low mortgage rates continue to boost state home sales

SPOKANE — Sales of existing homes in Washington in 2002 rose 6.3 percent from 2001 to a record 133,200, the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University said yesterday.

Glenn Crellin, director of the center, attributed the gains to the lowest mortgage interest rates in a generation.

The fourth quarter was strong, with 33,230 homes sold, up 20 percent from the year before. The median sales price for an existing home in Washington was $188,600 during the fourth quarter, 6.1 percent higher than last year, the center reported. San Juan County had the highest median price at $297,000. Pacific County had the lowest median, $82,800.

Wachovia ups holdings; now Boeing's No. 2 shareholder

CHICAGO — Boeing shareholder Wachovia increased its holdings by 41.1 million shares in the fourth quarter and is now Boeing's No. 2 shareholder.

Wachovia increased its stake to 44 million shares, or 5.5 percent of the stock outstanding, at the end of last year, Chicago-based Boeing said in a regulatory filing.

State Street Corp. is Boeing's biggest stockholder with 93.3 million shares, or 12 percent.

Microsoft tells appeal court that ruling on rival is flawed

RICHMOND, Va. — Microsoft sought yesterday to strike a lower-court order forcing it to include a rival's programming language in its Windows XP operating system.

Microsoft's appeal to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals argues that the ruling was flawed because rival Sun Microsystems did not prove immediate and irreparable harm, a standard required for preliminary injunctions.

Sun has filed a $1 billion antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft and successfully won an injunction requiring Microsoft to include the latest version of Sun's Java in Windows XP and related systems.

Sun argued that waiting until the antitrust case is decided could permanently kill Java, a technology designed to let programmers write software to run on all types of computers. The preliminary injunction was granted in December and finalized Jan. 21 by a federal judge in Baltimore, though the appeals court on Feb. 3 temporarily put the order on hold in anticipation of yesterday's filing.

Tully's says business trends better despite shrinking cash

SEATTLE — Tully's Coffee lost $1 million during its third quarter and saw its cash balance shrink, but the Seattle company says its business trends are improving.

Tully's said quarterly sales dipped 1.6 percent to $13 million in the three months ended Dec. 29. However, sales were up 0.4 percent at stores open at least a year, a key measure of retail performance that excludes new and closed stores. Wholesale revenues were up 17 percent.

A year ago, the company eked out its first quarterly profit of $42,000, boosted by the sale of shares of its Japanese affiliate. But excluding that one-time gain, Tully's said it shaved its operating loss by 65 percent during the most recent quarter.

Tully's had just $208,000 in cash on hand as of Dec. 29, down from nearly $1.7 million a year ago. But the company said it can borrow up to $2 million from Kent Central, a unit of the Benaroya Co., the Seattle developer that owns the building that houses Tully's corporate headquarters. It also is seeking an additional $1 million from another lender.

Nation/World

Wells Fargo seeks order to block lifting of license

CHICAGO — Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, asked a federal court to block California from pulling its home-loan license, saying it doesn't need a state license because it operates under federal rules.

The court should prohibit the state from examining Wells Fargo's home-loan portfolio, stripping its license, and forcing it to repay customers' interest charges, the San Francisco-based bank said in an amended complaint filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. A hearing is set for March 10.

The California Department of Corporations found the bank overcharged borrowers and didn't provide adequate disclosure to consumers in a sampling of loans it reviewed last year.

Buffet will have competition in bid for bankrupt Burlington

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rival financier Wilbur Ross made it clear yesterday that billionaire Warren Buffett will have competition in his proposed $579 million cash offer for bankrupt Burlington Industries.

In a letter to the North Carolina textile company's board of directors, the former bankruptcy lawyer indicated he's ready to battle Buffett's company, Berkshire Hathaway, for Burlington.

Ross said holders of more than $120 million of unsecured claims had written him rejecting Berkshire's offer to pay 35 cents on the dollar for their debt.

Burlington and Berkshire Hathaway did not returned calls for comment yesterday.

Citigroup chairman cites decline, refuses offer of bonus

NEW YORK — Citigroup Chairman and Chief Executive Sandy Weill refused to accept a cash or stock bonus for 2002, citing the decline in shareholder value for the year, the company said yesterday.

Citigroup said Weill accepted a grant of an option covering 1.5 million shares.

In its 2002 proxy statement, Citigroup said Weill received in 2001 a salary of $1 million and a bonus of $17 million, along with other annual compensation of $683,684. In addition, Weill received long-term compensation consisting of $8 million in restricted stock and options.

American Airlines considers creating low-cost carrier

DALLAS — American Airlines said yesterday that it hasn't ruled out starting a low-cost "carrier-within-a-carrier" similar to Delta Air Lines' Song airline, but it isn't close to a launch.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Campbell said the Fort Worth Texas-based American will continue to study the idea to fight off fast-growing low-fare airlines such as Dallas-based Southwest Airlines. But he noted that strategy hasn't worked well for American's competitors.

Delta's first attempt at the concept, Delta Express, failed. It's trying again with Song, which will start service this spring.