Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Thursday, May 7, 1998
VeriFone's Tyabji joins board of BofA holding
Hatim Tyabji, the entrepreneur who took VeriFone Inc. from a small Hawaii electronics business to a global manufacturer and marketer of electronic financial transaction systems, has been appointed a director of BA Merchant Services Inc.The company is a BankAmerica Corp. subsidiary that handles the bank's electronic check, credit card and debit card processing. Tyabji, who engineered the sale of VeriFone last year to Hewlett-Packard Co. for $1.3 billion, has said he will retire from VeriFone at the end of this year.
Woolworth plans to buy Sports Authority
NEW YORK Woolworth Corp. agreed to buy the Sports Authority Inc. for $749 million in stock and debt, adding the largest seller of sporting goods to its Foot Locker and Champs Sports chains.Sports Authority shareholders will get 0.8 Woolworth share for each share they own, valued at $21.875, or a total of $570 million. Woolworth will also take on $179 million in debt. Woolworth has been shedding its five-and-dime-store legacy the past year to focus on its more profitable sporting goods chains.
Thirty-year mortgages fall to 7.14 percent
WASHINGTON The average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage fell to 7.14 percent this week down from 7.22 percent last week, according to a Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.'s survey.The report also showed that the average rate on an adjustable mortgage was 5.65 percent this week, down from 5.69 percent. The 15-year mortgage rates also dropped to 6.78 percent, from 6.85 percent.
In other news . . .
NEW YORK Pepsi-Cola Co. today sued Coca-Cola Co., accusing Coke of monopolizing the sales of fountain soft drinks at restaurant chains and movie theaters by threatening to take away Coke from distributors that carried Pepsi as well.
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