Business FYI: Judge Orders BA Man to Quit Selling Stock
A Broken Arrow man is being ordered by an Oklahoma County judge to stop selling stock in a company called Airgonomics.
The ruling Thursday against Mark Wingo comes after the state Securities Department accused him of fraud and selling unregistered securities.
Securities Department administrator Irving Faught says authorities have found about 18 people who invested just under $200,000 in Airgonomics – which allegedly has developed a power source for electric vehicles.
Faught says Wingo claims there is patented material and that he’s working with engineering professors at Oklahoma State. Faught says those claims are apparently not true.
Faught says the investigation began after a complaint by a person who was asked to invest in the company.
Oklahoma rig count rises to 198
The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in Oklahoma rose by two this week to 198.
A year ago, the state’s rig count was nearly 14 percent lower at 174.
Meanwhile, the nationwide number of active drilling units fell by 27 this week to 1,782, said Houston-based Baker Hughes.
Of those rigs, 1,452 were exploring for natural gas and 325 for oil, the report said. Five were listed as miscellaneous.
The U.S. rig count is up more than 4 percent from a year ago, when it totaled 1,710.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Wyoming gained four rigs. Texas lost 23 rigs, while New Mexico lost four. Alaska, California and Colorado each lost two rigs, and Louisiana lost one.
Baker Hughes, an oil-field services company, has kept track of the rig chart since 1944.
Buffett opens bond insurance firm
Town governments, school districts and other municipalities looking to borrow money got a new option Friday when trying to insure their bonds: billionaire investor Warren Buffett.
Buffett’s formation of a bond insurance company provided some validation to an industry that has been battered by fears of collapse in recent weeks.
“If I was thinking of investing in financial guarantors, this would give me comfort,” said Donald Light, a senior analyst with Celent. Light owns Berkshire Hathaway shares.
Buffett’s foray into the bond insurance sector comes at a tumultuous time for his new competitors. In recent weeks, bond insurers have come under fire as rating agencies have downgraded them, or warned of possible downgrades, because of their exposure to the deteriorating credit markets.
Kodak, Matsushita agree to share patents
Eastman Kodak Co., the world’s largest photography company, and Panasonic parent Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. settled a fight over digital-camera technology by agreeing to share their patented inventions.
Kodak and Matsushita, the world’s biggest maker of consumer electronics, entered into a patent cross-licensing accord, Kodak said Friday in a regulatory filing. Kodak will drop a lawsuit filed in July in federal court in Tyler, Texas, that claimed Matsushita violated four U.S. patents.
Kodak said no money changed hands under the settlement, though Matsushita and its Panasonic unit and Victor Co., and JVC Americas Corp. affiliates will pay some royalties. Matsushita, based in Osaka, Japan, owns all of Panasonic and a stake in Victor, which makes the JVC brand.
Kodak had claimed that Panasonic and JVC digital cameras used inventions for image compression, storage, color sensors and previews it patented between 1991 and 2001.
Orchids Paper redeems debentures
Orchids Products Co. announced Friday it redeemed all $2.15 million principal amount of its 12-percent subordinated debentures due March 1, 2009, as well as paid accrued interest through Friday.
Orchids Paper Products Co., located in Pryor, manufactures tissue paper products.
Valero says refinery output delayed
Valero Energy Corp., the largest U.S. refiner, said it won’t get back to normal output levels at a Texas plant idled by a Dec. 2 power failure until next week.
The company’s refinery in Texas City, south of Houston, is processing about 180,000 to 190,000 barrels of crude a day, as much as 27 percent below capacity and 14 percent below its normal rate, Valero Chief Operating Officer Richard Marcogliese said. A so- called coker unit, which uses heat and pressure to turn tar-like crudes into gasoline components, was gummed up as hydrocarbons solidified after power service was disrupted.
Valero, based in San Antonio, has been hurt this year by lost- opportunity costs, such as sales that would have been made, as breakdowns disrupt output. Such costs averaged $383 million in this year’s first three quarters.
Wal-Mart abandons online movies
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has closed an online movie download service it launched less than a year ago.
The retreat for Wal-Mart, which accounts for about 40 percent of all DVD sales, follows the company’s 2005 decision to abandon efforts to build an online DVD rental service. The world’s largest retailer instead turned its rental service over to Netflix Inc.
Wal-Mart still operates a music download service.
A message on Wal-Mart’s video download Web site said the store closed Dec. 21. The Web site said customers who have already bought movies could continue to watch them.
In a statement, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Amy Collella said the company closed the store after Hewlett-Packard Co., which provided the software running the site, “made a business decision to discontinue its video download-only merchant store service.”
HP spokeswoman Anna Ichel Buxbaum said the company dropped the service because it “has not performed as expected.” Buxbaum said HP would refocus its investments into other digital entertainment ventures.
Originally published by Bloomberg, AP, and staff reports.
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