Business briefs for May 15, 2003

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

KTNV owner to go public

MILWAUKEE -- Journal Communications Inc., owner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and 42 radio and television stations, including Las Vegas ABC affiliate KTNV Channel 13, wants to sell up to $250 million in stock to the public for the first time, the company said Wednesday in a government filing.

The company would use the money from a stock sale to invest in other publishing operations, acquire more broadcasting stations and continue to invest in its telecommunications business, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Journal Communications did not provide details about the timing, the share price or the number of shares it would like to offer in the initial public offering. The IPO is subject to approval by the privately held company's shareholders.

Alleged spammer arrested

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A man identified by EarthLink Inc. as the "Buffalo Spammer" was arrested by New York authorities on charges he stole the identities of two people to open accounts with the third-largest Internet service.

Howard Carmack, 36, was arrested in Buffalo on four felony and two misdemeanor charges that he used the stolen identities to send millions of unwanted commercial e-mails known as spam, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said in a release posted on his website.

The criminal charges against Carmack are the first brought by Spitzer's office under the state's new identity-theft statute. Carmack's arrest is the latest effort by authorities and regulators to crack down on spam, which EarthLink estimates accounts for up to 70 percent of its incoming e-mail.

Companies probed for price fixing

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Antitrust authorities in the United States, Europe and Canada are investigating whether several large copper companies colluded to fix prices, regulators said on Wednesday.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & and Gold, based in New Orleans, confirmed that it had received a grand jury subpoena for documents about its activities in the market for copper concentrate, which is later refined by smelters. European antitrust officials conducted raids on the offices of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto in London and of Somincor in Portugal. All of the companies said they were cooperating in the investigation.

Gina M. Talamona, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, and Rob Levine, acting senior competition law officer in the criminal matters branch of Canada's Competition Bureau, confirmed that their offices were involved in the investigation, according to Bloomberg News. Cooperation among antitrust investigators in different jurisdictions is a recent phenomenon.

SEC investigates biotech company

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether Transkaryotic Therapies misled investors about the regulatory status of a drug it was developing, the company said on Wednesday.

The investigation of Transkaryotic, a biotechnology company, recalls the case involving ImClone Systems and its cancer drug, which soured investors on the biotechnology industry.

Transkaryotic said it had received a formal order of investigation from the SEC concerning public statements about the status of the Food and Drug Administration approval process for its drug for Fabry disease, a rare inherited disorder. It said the investigation also concerned stock transactions.