Hershey merger weighed in 1929

        Milton S. Hershey himself once considered a merger of Hershey Foods Corp. and two outside companies that would have ousted the Hershey Trust Co. from its stewardship of the candy company, trustees said in court papers.

        Trustees said the chocolate magnate's willingness to give up control of Hershey Foods in 1929 shows he never intended for them to be restricted in their ability to manage the trust's assets.

        The trust company's filing in Dauphin County, Pa., court Monday was the latest response to an attempt by the state attorney general's office to block the trustees from selling the nation's largest candy maker. A hearing will take place today in Commonwealth Court on whether a court injunction blocking any potential sale should be lifted.

United pilots: CEO wants longer talks

        United Airlines' new chief executive wants to push back to the end of September the Monday deadline set by his predecessor for reaching critically needed labor agreements, according to the pilots union.

        But United officials said a final decision has not been made.

        United chief executive officer Glenn Tilton told the pilots he would ask the Air Transportation Stabilization Board for an additional two weeks to amend United's application for a $1.8 billion government loan guarantee, union spokesman Herb Hunter said Tuesday.

        Such an extension could push back until Sept. 30 the deadline for unions of the employee-owned airline to agree to a financial recovery plan.

        United spokesman Joe Hopkins said Mr. Tilton has not decided whether to ask for an extension and won't until he sees what financial proposal the unions come up with.

JetBlue Airways suspends stock sale

        JetBlue Airways Corp., a low-fare carrier that sold stock to the public in April, suspended plans for a second sale because major shareholders expressed little interest in taking part.

        The carrier's shares rose $3.98, or 10 percent, to $43.76 in Nasdaq stock market trading after chief executive officer David Neeleman told investors on a conference call that the plans are suspended. JetBlue, a New York-based airline flying new jets with leather seats and satellite television, has risen 62 percent since the initial sale April 11.

        The airline, one of the few profitable U.S. carriers this year, has expanded while most larger rivals reduced flight capacity after the Sept. 11 attacks.

WorldCom plans to replace boss

        WorldCom Inc. will replace chief executive officer John Sidgmore, who took over when Bernard Ebbers was ousted in April, as the company seeks to emerge from history's biggest bankruptcy by the middle of 2003.

        Mr. Sidgmore will remain president and CEO until a successor is found, when he will again be vice chairman. Bert Roberts will continue as chairman, WorldCom said in a statement. With the help of an executive recruiting firm, WorldCom expects to name a new CEO in “an accelerated timeframe,” the company said.

        WorldCom, the second-biggest U.S. long-distance telephone company, filed for bankruptcy in July after disclosing it hid $3.85 billion in expenses to mask losses. The company, charged with fraud by U.S. authorities, revealed another $3.1 billion in misstatements last month.

Genentech takes hit after test fails
        Shares of Genentech Inc. plummeted Tuesday on news that a once-promising experimental breast cancer drug had failed a clinical trial.

        The South San Francisco-based company announced late Monday night that Avastin, a new class of drug designed to choke the blood supply to tumors, did not improve the prognosis of women with late-stage breast cancer.

        Avastin did help shrink tumors, but it still didn't help patients live longer - a key goal of the Phase III trial. Drug companies usually apply for Food and Drug Administration approvals after successful Phase III trial results.

        Genentech stock fell $3.11, or 9.7 percent, to close Tuesday at $28.89 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

Speedway faces race-bias lawsuit

        Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, which owns more than 2,000 gasoline and convenience stores, discriminated against black job applicants, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims in a lawsuit.

        The federal lawsuit, filed in Detroit Monday, claims that a Speedway gas station in Wayne, Mich., failed to hire Dorothy Helvey and others because of their race.

        The complaint, seeks unspecified damages for Ms. Helvey and diversity training for all Speedway employees. The EEOC said in a news release that it filed the suit after failing to reach a settlement with the company.

        Enon, Ohio-based Speedway acted “with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of Helvey and others,” the suit said.

        Chuck Rice, a spokesman for Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC, Speedway's parent company, said he hadn't heard about the suit and couldn't comment on it.

        Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Ashland is 62 percent owned by Houston-based Marathon Oil Company, the main subsidiary of Marathon Oil Corp., and 38 percent owned by Covington, Ky. based Ashland Inc.

— Enquirer news services

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