Business

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, July 4, 2008 Shareholders to vote on Sonus merger Sonus Pharmaceuticals has set its shareholders vote on its proposed merger with Vancouver, B.C.-based OncoGenex Technologies for Aug. 19. The new company created by the $10-million deal would keep operations in Bothell, where Sonus has been based. Michael Martino, the chief executive of Sonus, which saw a once-promising cancer drug fail in clinical trials last year, has said the merger is the best option left. Bothell biotech to sell shares Helix BioMedix Inc. of Bothell hopes to raise $7.5 million through a stock warrant purchase by RBFSC Inc. The agreement allows RBFSC to buy up to 750,000 shares of Helix's stock at $1 each between now and the middle of 2013. Shares of Helix, which specializes in developing wound-healing proteins known as peptides, closed Thursday at 57 cents. Neah Power seeks financing Bothell-based Neah Power Systems has agreed to issue at least 7.5 million shares of preferred stock at 4 cents each in order to raise at least $300,000. The developer of small fuel cells said the cash will be used for working capital and the company's general corporate purposes. Neah's shares closed Thursday at just more than 2 cents, down a half-cent. Canada's Jazz Air to cut 270 people Canada's Jazz Air said Thursday it will cut 270 employees, or about 5.4 percent of its work force, as the regional discount airline operator reduces capacity by 5 percent. The job cuts follow the mid-June move by Jazz Air's primary customer, Air Canada, to cut 2,000 jobs as it reduces flying by 7 percent. Alaska Air to stop accepting cash Don't bother hitting the ATM before boarding your flight -- your airline may no longer be accepting cash. Starting Aug. 5, Alaska Airlines will become the latest carrier to go cashless for in-flight purchases such as headphones, cocktails and snacks. Others that have gone cashless include Frontier Airlines, American Airlines, JetBlue and AirTran. The "cashless cabin" is fast becoming the norm as more goods are sold in-flight and the hassles grow for making change, said Mike Boyd, an aviation consultant. Internet agency loses address This doesn't sound good: The nonprofit agency in charge of the Internet's addresses recently lost track of its own. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, said it happened when an Internet registration company it oversees got fooled into transferring the domain names -- ICANN.com and IANA.com -- to someone else. The attack was noticed, and ICANN's domain names were restored. Banks still need U.S. credit help Wall Street companies sharply scaled back their borrowing from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program over the past week while commercial banks boosted it slightly.The report, released by the Fed Thursday, offered mixed signals about credit conditions. From Herald staff and news services

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