Government to retry ex-banker Quattrone

NEW YORK - Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they will retry Frank Quattrone, the former star investment banker whose first trial on obstruction of justice charges ended in a hung jury.

The disclosure came in a letter from U.S. Attorney James Comey to Richard Owen, the federal judge who oversaw the first trial.

Tyco to cut 7,200 jobs and sell 50 businesses

NEW YORK - Tyco International Ltd. will slash about 7,200 jobs as part of a restructuring plan and sell off 50 businesses, including its undersea fiber-optic network.

The businesses Tyco is exiting are in every segment of the diversified industrial conglomerate's operations, except plastics and adhesives.

Some of Microsoft settlement questioned

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court Tuesday aggressively questioned key provisions of the antitrust settlement Microsoft Corp. negotiated with the Bush administration, but it stopped short of suggesting it may throw out the agreement and favor tougher sanctions against the world's largest software company.

The six-judge panel from the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia appeared to acknowledge the settlement hasn't spurred the largest computer makers, for example, to install competing software from Microsoft's fiercest rivals, one principal aim of the landmark agreement.

Wild Oats has $861,000 loss in Q3

Wild Oats Markets Inc., a natural- foods grocer, said it had a third-quarter loss of $861,000 because of costs to switch distributors and close warehouses.

The net loss of 3 cents a share compared with net income of $2.2 million, or 8 cents, a year earlier, the Boulder, Colorado- based retailer said. Sales rose 3.9 percent to $237 million from $228.1 million a year earlier.

From wire reports