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.

The New York Sun

PUBLISHING

McClatchy Co. Sells Star Tribune

McClatchy Co. after yesterday’s closing bell said it has agreed to sell the Star Tribune newspaper of Minneapolis to Avista Capital Partners for $530 million. The Sacramento, Calif.-based publishing company added that it expects a future cash tax benefit of about $160 million related to the sale. The deal covers the newspaper as well as other publications and Web sites related to the newspaper. The company will use the proceeds from the sale to pay down debt from the Knight Ridder purchase. McClatchy said it has no plans to divest further newspapers. The company sees the deal closing in the first quarter of 2007.

— Dow Jones Newswires

COMMODITIES

Warm Weather Drives Down Oil

Crude oil fell a fourth day in New York on signs lower-than-usual heating demand and increased gasoline output will slow the drawdown of American fuel stockpiles. Temperatures in the Northeast, the nation’s biggest heating oil-consuming region, will be above average through January 9, the National Weather Service said on Monday. New York City may avoid December snowfalls for the first time in since 1891. Heating oil fell on Monday to its lowest since October. Gasoline futures dropped 3.6% on expectations American stockpiles rose a second week as refiners boosted output, according to a survey of analysts.

— Bloomberg News

HEALTH CARE

UnitedHealth Reports Formal SEC Probe

The biggest American health insurance company by sales, UnitedHealth Group Inc., reported a formal Securities and Exchange Commission probe of the stock-options practices that led to the departure of William McGuire as chief executive officer. Mr. McGuire, 59, was forced to resign last month after an independent probe found he may have manipulated the dating of options worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Mr. McGuire agreed last month not to exercise his own options, once worth as much as $1.6 billion. At least 193 companies have disclosed internal or federal investigations related to the backdating of stock options, based on data compiled by Bloomberg.

— Bloomberg News

TECHNOLOGY

Report: Microsoft’s Vista Contains Flaws

Microsoft Corp. has stressed the security features of its Windows update Vista as one of the most improved aspects of the new operating system, but two recent reports by security experts is causing concern. The reports say a bug contained in the Internet Explorer browser shipping with Vista can send unsuspecting users to a malicious Web site. Five other flaws were also cited by researchers. Microsoft said on its security Web site that it hasn’t received any reports of attacks involving the flaws. The consumer version of Vista will hit the marketplace on January 30.

— Dow Jones Newswires


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