WaMu risk management job goes to CFO Longbrake
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In the newly created job, Longbrake, 58, will serve in both positions until Washington Mutual completes a search for his replacement, said Alan Gulick, a company spokesman.
Longbrake, who is also a vice chairman, served as finance deputy of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) from March 1995 to September 1996 after being at Washington Mutual from 1982 to 1995.
He returned to the Seattle-based company as CFO a month after leaving the FDIC and was named vice chairman in 1999.
Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said it created the risk-management job because the company's operations have become more complex after four acquisitions in the past year.
Longbrake's duties will include asset and liability management, capital and interest-rate risk management, operational risk management and regulatory affairs, the company said.
WatchGuard plans to buy firm in deal worth $48 million
SEATTLE — WatchGuard Technologies, a maker of Internet-security software and hardware, plans to buy RapidStream for $48 million in stock and cash to add faster hardware and Internet services.
Seattle-based WatchGuard will pay $31 million in stock and $17 million in cash for the closely held San Jose company and may increase its cash portion to up to $24 million. The purchase is expected to be completed in the second quarter.
WatchGuard is adding services as it tries to improve its financial results.
The company yesterday reported a fourth-quarter loss of $10.2 million, or 38 cents a share, narrowing 26.7 percent from $13.9 million, or 54 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Sales fell 37.7 percent, to $12.4 million from $19.9 million, because of the economic slowdown, sluggish sales of higher-end products and disruptions caused by WatchGuard's realignment of its sales organization, the company said.
For the full year, WatchGuard's loss widened to $37 million, or $1.38 a share, from $15.7 million, or 66 cents, in the previous year. Annual sales climbed 5.9 percent to $64.3 million from $60.7 million.
Getty Images stock jumps after fourth-quarter showing
SEATTLE — Shares of Getty Images, a distributor of stock photographs, rose 23 percent yesterday after its fourth-quarter revenue beat analysts' estimates and profit margins were better than expected.
Getty, which released earnings after the close of U.S. markets Wednesday, also generated positive cash flow sooner than analysts expected.
Its shares rose $4.36 to $23.25 in trading of 4.09 million shares, more than 10 times the three-month daily average.
TeleCorp shareholders OK sale to ATT Wireless
ARLINGTON, Va. — TeleCorp PCS shareholders voted to approve the buyout by Redmond, Wash.-based ATT Wireless Services, the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier.
Pending regulatory approvals, the purchase is expected to close next Friday, TeleCorp said in a statement. More than 94 percent of the votes were in favor of the purchase, TeleCorp said.
The purchase gives ATT Wireless access to 32 million potential customers in 14 states in the Southeast and Midwest.
In October, ATT Wireless said it would buy the 77 percent of TeleCorp it doesn't already own for 0.9 share for each TeleCorp share.
The price includes the assumption of about $2.1 billion in debt and $221 million in preferred stock, the companies said.
Tully's Coffee expanding in Japanese market
TOKYO — Tully's Coffee Japan said yesterday that it's aiming to open 100 shops in the next fiscal year, heating up competition with rival Starbucks Coffee Japan.
The affiliate of Seattle-based Tully's Coffee operates 40 outlets and plans to open 10 more by March 31, the end of its fiscal year. Starbucks Coffee Japan, a unit of Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks, has said it plans to have 500 outlets by March 2004, up from the current 326.
Tully's Coffee Japan also said it may split its stock this year or next. Shares in Tully's Coffee Japan are worth 390,000 yen ($2,920), nine times more than Starbucks Coffee Japan's 40,900 yen ($306) price, making it difficult for some individuals to invest in the company.
Biotech's brain-cancer drug to be tested on 90 patients
SEATTLE — Northwest Biotherapeutics, a Bothell-based biotech company, said it is beginning a midstage clinical trial to treat brain cancer.
The trial for the drug, DCVax-Brain, will involve 90 patients in the United States. The company is also testing a prostate-cancer vaccine that is about to enter pivotal tests.
Nation/World
NextBank shut down for 'unsound' practices
WASHINGTON — Federal bank regulators have closed Phoenix-based NextBank, the largest marketer of credit cards over the Internet, after finding the bank failed to identify extensive credit-quality problems.
The Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates nationally chartered banks, closed the bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) was appointed as receiver.
Phoenix-based NextBank is a unit of NextCard of San Francisco.
The comptroller closed the bank, with $700 million in assets, "after finding that the bank was operating in an unsafe and unsound manner," the agency said in a statement.
In addition, NextBank "had experienced a substantial dissipation of assets and earnings through unsafe and unsound practices."
The bank had $554 million in deposits from 4,400 depositors who purchased large or so-called jumbo certificates of deposit. These depositors will be repaid by the FDIC up to federal deposit insurance limits, FDIC spokesman David Barr said.
NextBank is the fourth bank to fail this year, according to the FDIC.
December drop in borrowing sharpest in U.S. since '90
WASHINGTON — Americans let their credit cards cool off in December and cut back on borrowing by the largest amount in 11 years.
The retrenchment came after a record increase in personal debt in November as zero-interest-rate financing offers spurred a big rise in auto loans.
The Federal Reserve Board reported yesterday that consumer credit fell by a seasonally adjusted $5.1 billion in December, or at a 3.7 percent annual rate.
The dollar decrease was the biggest since December 1990, when borrowing fell by $5.8 billion. The percentage decrease matched the rate of decline registered in October 1991.
The pullback in December reflected a big drop in demand for revolving credit, such as that used for credit cards. Demand for revolving credit fell by a record $8.2 billion, or at an annual rate of 14.2 percent in December.
Compiled from the Seattle Times staff and news services.