Mysore Lamp Works sell-off after turnaround
Bangalore: The Karnataka government is thinking of divesting its stake in the sick Mysore Lamp Works only after the company stages a turnaround. The company will implement the proposed rehabilitation package of the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. The divestment proposal mooted by the previous Janata Dal government found no takers.

The state government holds a 92 per cent stake in the company. The rest is held by financial institutions.
Back to News Review index page

Microsoft has monopoly power: US court
Washington: In one of the century’s biggest anti-trust cases a US federal judge ruled that Microsoft Corporation wielded monopoly power in personal computer operating systems. The ruling is a major setback for the world’s largest personal computer software company.

District judge Thomas Penfield Jackson said Microsoft’s actions had done consumers harm and the company had used its power to punish competing firms.

The judge found the company had succeeded in stiffling innovations that would benefit consumers, "for the sole reason that they do not coincide with Microsoft’s self-interest". The 207-page finding, which sets the stage for a later ruling on whether Microsoft’s actions broke the law, largely sided with the US justice department and 19 states that brought the case against the high-technology company.

If the judge finds Microsoft liable for breaking the law, he could then move to apply sanctions ranging from restrictions on the way it does business to breaking up the company. The final decision may come sometime next year, and observers feel Microsoft could get time to broker a deal with the government.
Back to News Review index page

Pfizer is committed to deal
New York: The No 2 US drug company, Pfizer, says it is "very committed" to pursuing a deal with Warner-Lambert but said it is too early to discuss possible hostile measures. Pfizer has made an unsolicited all-stock bid worth $73 billion for Warner-Lambert, in a bold move to break up the latter’s friendly $70 billion merger with American Home Products.

Pfizer’s bid values Warner-Lambert at $85.62 a share while AHP’s bid is at $81.37 a share. Either of the deals will create the world’s largest drug company.
Back to News Review index page

GM to use website for purchases
Detroit: General Motors Corporation said it will move all its $87 billion in annual purchases to its new e-commerce website within about two years. It will persuade its suppliers to follow in line.
Back to News Review index page

Intel wins anti-trust case
Palo Alto: Intel Corporation won an important anti-trust case when an appeals court lifted an order that compelled the company to give microprocessor technology to Intergraph Corporation. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said Intel most likely did not break US anti-trust laws when it did not give advance product information and technology to rival Intergraph, an Alabama maker of workstations and graphics computer chips.
Back to News Review index page