Herald staff
WASHINGTON — Antitrust regulators gave approval Thursday to the $111 billion merger of America Online and Time Warner — the largest media deal in U.S. history — with safeguards to ensure Americans will have broad choices as the Internet evolves.
The union would bring CNN, HBO, Time magazine and Warner Bros. together with the online service used by 26 million consumers.
Mexico market growing: Boeing foresees a market for 360 new airplanes in Mexico over the next 20 years. A commercial aviation forecast released Wednesday projects that market will be worth about $18 billion. Most of the demand will be for single-aisle and regional jets, like Boeing’s 737 and 717, the report said.
Thursday prices: Gold sold for $269.30, silver sold for $4.65 and platinum sold for $618.20.
Rosetta expands in Bothell: Rosetta Inpharmatics of Kirkland opened a new Bothell facility Thursday that will look for new drug targets by studying human genes. The new facility is at 9805 North Creek Parkway and will eventually house all of the company’s production facilities. The Kirkland facility will be used for final data analysis. The company now has about 170 employees.
Bothell biotech stock offering: ICOS Corp. hopes to raise additional development funds with a company offering of 4.5 million shares of stock at $37 each. The offering is led by SG Cowen Securities Corp. of New York. ICOS has yet to market a product but has drugs in development relating to male and female sexual dysfunction, inflammatory diseases, cancer and hypertension.