Business briefs
Published 9:44 pm Thursday, February 28, 2008
Boeing has delivered its 1,400th 747, a 747-400 Freighter handed over Thursday at the Everett factory to GE Commercial Aviation Services. That firm is leasing the plane to Russia-based AirBridgeCargo Airlines. Boeing says the 747 has logged about 89 million flight hours. The airplanes have flown about 48 billion miles, the equivalent distance of almost 203,000 trips to the moon. The first 747 was delivered Dec. 30, 1969, to Pan American.
CMC raises money to invest in facility
CMC Biologics A/S, which operates a biotechnology manufacturing facility in Bothell, has completed a round of financing with Monitor Clipper Partners LLC and other investors. The Danish company said the undisclosed sum of money raised will be used to improve the former ICOS Corp. facility in Bothell, which CMC bought in December. The contract-manufacturing plant develops and manufactures proteins for clinical trials.
Defibrillator sales rise for Bothell firm
Cardiac Science Corp. of Bothell announced a fourth-quarter profit of $2.4 million, or 10 cents a share, compared to a loss of $35,000 in the year-ago period. Revenue during the quarter totaled a record $50.4 million, up 29 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006, thanks to strong sales of automated defibrillators. For the full year, Cardiac Science’s net income totaled $8.5 million.
Government warns about Ford recall
The government has warned owners of about 4.6 million recalled Ford vehicles to bring them immediately to dealerships to disconnect cruise control switch systems that have been linked to engine fires. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued the advisory to the owners of certain unrepaired Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles who have not responded to past recalls.
Price cut on retail versions of Vista
Microsoft Corp. will cut the price of some versions of Windows Vista, the software maker said late Thursday. The move came a day after court filings revealed internal dissent over which Windows XP computers would be considered capable of running the new operating system. Only copies of the year-old operating system that are sold in boxes directly to consumers are affected by the price cuts, not the versions pre-loaded on personal computers.
Safeway cuts back management staff
Safeway Inc. has fired part of its administrative staff to help bolster its profits as the sluggish economy erodes the grocer’s sales growth. The California-based company isn’t specifying how many workers were jettisoned, but Safeway spokesman Brian Dowling said “very modest” cuts were made at offices in Washington, California, Oregon, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Maryland and Virginia.
From Herald staff and news services
