BECU credit union to cut 8 percent of work force
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The move will leave Tukwila-based BECU, formerly known as Boeing Employees Credit Union, with more than 800 employees.
"It has nothing to do with our safety and soundness, or a lack of growth, because we've continued to show strong gains," said spokesman Todd Pietzsch. "Expense management is something we are always taking a look at. The more lean and mean we are, the more value we can return to our members in the form of loan rates or deposit rates."
The cuts, affecting both management and nonmanagement positions, will mostly take effect July 1.
BECU reported more than $4.6 billion in assets at the end of 2003, up 6 percent from the prior year. However, its profit for the year fell 21 percent to $35.4 million as noninterest expenses climbed nearly 26 percent, to $156.6 million.
In the first quarter of 2004, operating expenses shrank slightly and profit doubled to $8.7 million.
Despite its job cuts, the credit union is expanding its reach in the Puget Sound area. BECU this year has opened 22 of 30 planned express-service centers inside Safeway stores from Mount Vernon to Olympia, Pietzsch said.
WaMu warns profit may slide as mortgage rates go up
NEW YORK — Washington Mutual may earn less making mortgages than in recent quarters as interest rates rise, Chief Executive Officer Kerry Killinger said. The Seattle-based bank's shares dropped $1.56, or 3.6 percent, their steepest loss in more than five months, closing yesterday at $41.43.
"Because of the general market uncertainty about interest rates and the nature of the mortgage-banking performance, we are more cautious than we were in early April about the earnings outlook for the mortgage banking part of our business," Killinger told analysts at an investment conference in New York.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has risen to 6.32 percent from 5.38 percent in mid-March, according to Freddie Mac. That has crimped demand for refinancing and curbed sales of new homes. Mortgage lending accounted for more than 60 percent of Washington Mutual's $13.7 billion of revenue in 2003.
Oil companies place bids for rights to drill in Alaska
ANCHORAGE — Five oil companies bid yesterday for the right to develop 1.4 million acres in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in the largest onshore federal lease sale in state history.
The high bids totaled $53.9 million and covered 123 individual tracts. The highest bid for a single tract was $13.74 million, made by Fortuna Energy, a subsidiary of Calgary, Alberta-based Talisman Energy.
The bidders included ConocoPhillips Alaska, Petro-Canada Alaska, Fortuna, Anadarko Petroleum and Pioneer Natural Resources Alaska.
The Bureau of Land Management will review the bids over the next 90 days before formally awarding the leases, bureau spokesman Edward Bovy said. A legal challenge by seven environmental groups also must be resolved before any sales are finalized. The challenge alleges the lease plan violates several environmental-protection laws.
The NPR-A covers about 23.5 million acres of public land west of Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Alaska's North Slope. Estimates of oil reserves in the NPR-A range from about 6 billion to 13 billion barrels of oil.
Go Cougs! to Westlake Center to buy WSU goodies, gear
SEATTLE — Washington State University will open its first retail store this side of the Cascade Curtain tomorrow, promising to bring "the essence of the Palouse to Western Washington."
The university says the store at Westlake Center is meant to do more than keep the 42,000 alumni in the Puget Sound area clothed in WSU sweat shirts and other merchandise; it will also highlight the school's educational and research contributions in the state.
The store will sell gourmet food and wine produced in Eastern Washington, including Cougar Gold Cheese, and will feature a full-sized version of the school's mascot, Butch.
Starbucks names senior VP for overseeing employees
SEATTLE — Starbucks said yesterday that it hired a senior vice president to help oversee the expanding ranks of employees as the world's largest coffee chain targets further growth overseas.
Tony George, former head of human resources at Burger King International, will take up his new position this fall, the Seattle coffee company said.
George replaces Ken Myers, who quit a few months ago and is now acting as an adviser to Starbucks.
Microsoft offers test version of Windows Media Player 10
SEATTLE — Microsoft yesterday released a preliminary version of its newest software package for playing video and audio on personal computers that will also allow online music stores to sell songs over the Web.
The new version, called Windows Media Player 10, is being released as a technical beta program aimed at enthusiasts and early adopters for testing and feedback.
Microsoft's new media player, which competes against RealNetworks' RealPlayer and Apple Computer's QuickTime player, is also designed to work with a new line of portable media devices using Microsoft's Portable Media Center software.
The most notable new feature, however, is the new player's ability to offer music and video from different vendors directly through the player, Microsoft's answer to Apple's hit music store iTunes.
Nation / World
Truck, SUV sales don't slow despite soaring gas prices
DETROIT — Auto sales rose 7 percent in May, as skyrocketing gas prices apparently did little to dampen demand for pickups and sport-utility vehicles.
General Motors, the world's biggest automaker, said its sales were up 6.8 percent. Ford saw sales of its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands rise 1 percent, while DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler unit reported that sales were 5.2 percent higher than in May 2003.
GM's truck sales soared 11.4 percent, while its car sales were level. Ford sold 1.7 percent more trucks, and 0.5 percent fewer cars. Chrysler said its truck sales were up 7.8 percent, while car sales fell 2.9 percent.
Asian companies saw more dramatic increases than domestic producers and benefited from greater truck sales.
House panel investigates fees for college-savings plans
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and regulators are examining the fees charged by popular college-savings plans, and an investigation of big brokerage firms' sales of the plans has widened.
An investor advocate told a House panel yesterday that states may have incentives to sponsor so-called "529" plans with high fees and that political factors can play a role in pushing up charges.
"Political considerations ... may influence the selection of money managers and cause states to be less diligent when negotiating fees," Mercer Bullard, a University of Mississippi law professor who heads the advocacy group Fund Democracy, testified at a hearing examining the plans used by parents to save for their children's college tuition.
More than $35 billion is invested in 529 plans, which were established by Congress in 1996 and are named for the corresponding provision in the federal tax code.
U.S. trade body looking at charges against Gateway
WASHINGTON — The U.S. International Trade Commission will investigate Hewlett-Packard's claim that Gateway has imported computer products that infringe on its patents, the panel said yesterday.
The commission's decision opens a second front for Hewlett-Packard in legal action against its rival.
The No. 1 personal computer maker already has filed suit in federal court against Gateway for alleged patent violations.
The ITC will focus on Hewlett-Packard's claim that Gateway was importing desktop, notebook and server computers that infringe on seven of its patents.
Compiled from Seattle Times business staff, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press and Reuters