Business Desk
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

COMMUNICATIONS
RIM 3Q Profit Rises 46% On BlackBerry Demand
Research In Motion Ltd. said thirdquarter profit climbed 46% on demand for BlackBerry e-mail devices and market share gains against rival Palm Inc. The shares rose as the company forecast fourth-quarter sales and profit that may beat analysts’ estimates. Net income rose to $176 million, or 93 cents a share, from $120.1 million, or 61 cents, a year earlier, Research In Motion said yesterday in a statement. Earnings excluding some costs were 95 cents, beating the 94-cent average of 16 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales increased 49% to $835.1 million.
— Bloomberg News
AVIATION
Raytheon To Sell Business-Jet Unit
BOSTON — Raytheon Co., the world’s largest missile maker, agreed to sell its business-jet unit to Onex Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. for $3.3 billion, completing a decade-long shift back to government and defense contracts. Onex, Canada’s biggest buyout firm, and Goldman will be equal owners of the Wichita, Kan.-based maker of Hawker and Beechcraft airplanes, Onex Managing Director Nigel Wright said. The sale, Raytheon’s largest ever, allows the company to concentrate on more lucrative sales of weapons such as the Tomahawk cruise missile.
— Bloomberg News
US Airways Chief Rebukes Delta’s Stand-Alone Plan
ATLANTA — US Airways’ chief executive issued a scathing rebuke yesterday of Delta Air Lines’ stand-alone reorganization plan and said he is more determined than ever to push ahead with his company’s hostile bid to buy Delta. Delta shot back that it hasn’t changed its position that it wants to remain independent. The CEO of US Airways, Doug Parker, made it clear his company isn’t going to back down. Mr. Parker said Delta’s projection that it will be worth as much as $12 billion when it emerges from bankruptcy as a standalone airline is “way out of whack.”
— Associated Press
ECONOMY
Sluggish Economic Performance Is Expected
WASHINGTON — The economy felt the strain of the housing bust and lost momentum in the late summer, with more sluggish performances expected in the months ahead. Economic growth slowed to a 2% pace in the July-to-September quarter, the Commerce Department reported yesterday. That was slightly worse than the 2.2% annual rate the government estimated a month ago, yet better than the anemic 1.6% rate initially calculated for those months. In other economic news, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid-off workers signing up for unemployment benefits rose by 9,000 to 315,000 last week.
— Associated Press
COMMODITIES
Russia’s Gazprom Wrests Sakhalin-2 From Shell
MOSCOW — Russia’s state-controlled natural gas monopoly wrested control of the country’s largest single foreign investment from Shell yesterday, taking a majority stake in the Sakhalin-2 project for $7.45 billion in a deal that consolidates the Kremlin’s command over national energy resources. Under the deal, Gazprom will pay cash for a 50%-plus-one share in the $22 billion development on the Pacific island of Sakhalin, and Shell, Mitsui & Co., and Mitsubishi Corp. will halve their stakes in the project.
— Associated Press