SBC, union clash over health costs

As many as 100,000 employees at SBC Communications Inc., the second-largest U.S. local-phone company, may be without labor contracts by Saturday as their union fights a plan to shift more health-care costs to workers. San Antonio-based SBC is seeking to charge technicians, call center employees, sales staff and retirees premiums for health benefits. The proposal would cost union members at least $2,400 annually, which is unacceptable, the Communications Workers of America says on its Web site. SBC wants to cut company health expenses, which it says have risen an average of 14 percent a year since 1999, after 13 straight quarters of sales declines.

IBM to buy software maker Candle

International Business Machines Corp., the world’s second- largest software company, agreed to buy closely held Candle Corp. for an undisclosed price to add software that helps manage systems and databases. Candle’s products improve the operation of data centers. The products include systems management and database- management software, IBM spokesman John Crowe said in an interview. El Segundo-based Candle has more than 3,000 customers, IBM said in a statement.

GM, Ford sales rise

General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. said U.S. sales rose in March, as they sold more light trucks such as Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra pickups. Sales at DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler dropped for the first time in six months as minivan sales declined. Sales at General Motors, the world’s largest automaker, climbed 5.9 percent. Ford’s sales rose 2.7 percent, Toyota’s gained 5.5 percent and Chrysler’s dropped 2 percent. U.S. automakers are depending on light trucks, which include sport-utility vehicles and minivans, to halt the loss of market share to Asian automakers such as Japan’s Toyota. Light-truck sales gained 3.9 percent at General Motors and 8.4 percent at Ford last month.

Level 3 buys ICG’s dial-up unit

Level 3 Communications Inc., operator of one of the world’s first fiber-optic networks, acquired an ICG Communications Inc. business for about $35 million to add Internet customers and markets. The unit provides dial-up Internet access for people who use Time Warner Inc.’s America Online, EarthLink Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s MSN Internet services, Level 3 said in a statement. The acquisition comes as companies switch from providing dial-up telephone access to the Internet to faster connections, including those offered by cable television and telephone companies. Level 3 said in February that America Online would reduce the amount of network capacity it buys from Level 3 for dial-up Internet service.

Computer Associates nabs HP exec

Computer Associates International Inc. named former Hewlett- Packard Co. executive Jeff Clarke as chief financial officer after firing its finance head amid a government investigation of the business-software maker’s accounting. Clarke, 42, was Compaq Computer Corp.’s CFO before Hewlett-Packard bought the company in 2002. He helped integrate the two computer makers and left last year. His appointment was effective Thursday, Computer Associates said in a statement.BLOOMBERG NEWS SERVICE

Fannie-Freddie oversight bill OKd

The Senate Banking Committee approved Senator Richard Shelby’s bill to strengthen oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie, the two largest U.S. mortgage finance companies. Members of the committee, in a 12-9 vote along party lines, approved a bill that would allow a new regulator to alter capital standards, reject new lines of business and sell off assets should one of the government- chartered, publicly traded companies become insolvent. Shelby is an Alabama Republican. In order to become law, the bill must gain approval from the full Senate, passage in the House Financial Services Committee and the House of Representatives and the signature of President George W. Bush.

Time Warner CEO gets $8 million bonus

Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media company, paid Chief Executive Officer Richard Parsons an $8 million bonus in 2003, the first time in three years it has awarded its top executive a bonus. Parsons also received a salary of $1.5 million, compared with $1 million in 2002, and 500,000 stock options valued at about $2 million, the New York-based company said in filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2000, Time Warner gave then- CEO Gerald Levin a $10 million bonus after he helped orchestrate the company’s acquisition by America Online. Parsons, then co-chief operating officer, got a $6 million bonus that same year. Levin resigned in May 2002, after a prolonged decline in the company’s share price. Parsons, 55, received his 2003 bonus for meeting certain financial and operating goals established at the beginning of the year, the company said.

Chinese IPOs lose luster

Chinese initial public offerings, last year’s most sought-after shares, are losing their luster. Three Chinese IPOs in the past month fell almost 10 percent in their trading debuts. China Resources Peoples Telephone Co., a Hong Kong mobile-phone maker controlled by China’s Cabinet, fell 8.2 percent Wednesday. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. and Tom Online Inc. dropped after U.S. technology stocks slumped and China announced steps to curb economic growth. “The concept of people buying into China to sell on the first day of trade at a profit is over,” said Glenn Henricksen, a principal at CIF Consultants in Hong Kong, who bought shares in China Life Insurance Co., the world’s biggest IPO last year. “The free money is finished.” The 10 IPOs that preceded Tom Online’s sale produced average first-day gains of 36 percent.