Lumera Corp. of Bothell generated revenue of $860,000 during the first quarter, up from $503,000 in the same period last year. That helped to cut its net loss to $2.7 million, or 13 cents a share, compared to $3.1 million last year. Lumera, which is developing new polymer materials and nanotechnology, said government contracts contributed most of its revenue.
Microsoft Corp. attorneys fight fees
Attorneys representing Microsoft Corp. in an Iowa class-action lawsuit said Thursday they plan to challenge the $75.5 million in fees and expenses sought by plaintiffs’ attorneys. Microsoft attorney Rich Wallis said the company had agreed to pay attorney fees of up to $75 million. He said he was surprised when lawyers Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines and Richard Hagstrom of Minneapolis said at an April 19 preliminary settlement hearing that their request would exceed that by $500,000.
Financing losses slice GM’s profits
The troubled mortgage market spilled onto General Motors Corp.’s balance sheet Thursday as first-quarter profits dropped 90 percent from a year ago due mainly to losses at GM’s former financial arm. The fact that the nation’s largest automaker still lost money on its North American operations seemed to trouble industry analysts more than losses at the former financing arm, GMAC Financial Services, because GM is more than a year into a massive restructuring plan.
Productivity, wages post drop in quarter
The growth in worker productivity slowed in the first three months of this year but so did wages, providing evidence that a slowing economy is holding down inflation. The Labor Department reported that productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, rose at an annual rate of 1.7 percent in the January-to-March quarter, down from a 2.1 percent rise in the final three months of last year. Wages slowed even more sharply with unit labor costs rising at a 0.6 percent rate, compared with a 6.2 percent surge in the final three months of last year when year-end bonuses for high-income workers inflated the number.
Subprime lender cuts 2,000 workers
Financially strapped sub-prime mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. of Irvine, Calif., failed to receive any bids for its mortgage loan origination business, forcing it to shut down the unit and lay off around 2,000 employees, the company told employees Thursday.
Delta Air Lines resumes trading
Delta Air Lines Inc.’s new shares began their first trading day on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday at a price below the company’s initial projection. Delta’s chief financial officer said he was pleased with the carrier having the second-highest market capitalization in the industry, even as one analyst predicted that ranking would be short-lived. The Atlanta-based company’s shares opened their first public trading day since Delta exited bankruptcy on Monday at $21.75. That pegged Delta’s initial market value at $8.7 billion based on the 400 million shares Delta planned to issue.
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