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Show Business Local Industry NEWS & NOTES PAGE 4 FRIDAY, MAY 25, BUSINESS EDITOR V V Dow Jones Nasdaq S&P500 Final Final Final 13,441.13 -- 84.52 2537.92 -- 39.13 1507.51 y Gold Per ounce $653.00 -- $8.90 -- 14.77 Grace Leong V 344-29- 1 2007 0 gleongheraldextra.com EXCHANGING THE DOLLAR Silver Per ounce $12,852 -- $0,183 Yen Euro Pound Canadian dollar Mexican peso Thursday Wednesday 121.39 $1 3433 $1 9858 1.0839 10.8512 121.65 $1.3458 $1.9861 1.0829 10.7850 People On the Move Nu Skin makes management changes Nu Skin Enterprises Inc. of Provo named Andrew Fan its president of the Greater China region and Melisa Tantoco Quijano as president of its Southeast Asia region. Fan will oversee sales and operations for mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. He will also take over the responsibilities of Frankie Kiow, who has resigned as president of Nu Skin China to pursue government service opportunities. Fan will provide the strategic and operational direction for China until a replacement for Kiow is found. But Kiow will continue to work with Nu Skin as an outside business advisor, providing advice on industry and government issues related to direct selling in mainland China. Fan joined Nu Skin in 1991 and has since participated in the successful development and opening of 12 Asian markets. In his prior position as president of Southeast Asia, he directly managed six Nu Skin Enterprises' markets Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei. Fan most recently directed the opening of Nu Skin's Indonesia market. Quijano, who has more than 25 years of sales and marketing experience, most recently held the position of vice president of market services for Nu Skin's global distributor success organization. She has also served as regional director for Southeast Asia, general manager for Nu Skin Malaysia and Nu Skin Thailand, as well as regional marketing director. Other management changes in mainland China and Taiwan include: John Chou, who has served as the president of Taiwan for the past 15 years, was appointed to corporate vice president. In this position, Chou will support the development of global communications strategies for the company's key stakeholders. Chou has served as president and general manager of Nu Skin Taiwan since it opened in 1992, helping Taiwan become one of the company's largest and most profitable markets. Wa-- art to sell Dell PCs M Peter Svensson THE global retail. "Customers want more and ASSOCIATED PRESS In a depar- NEW YORK ture from the direct business model it was founded on, Dell Inc. plans to sell computers at Wal-MaStores Inc., the world's largest rt retailer. A Dell spokesman said Thursday the computer maker will begin selling two models from its Dimension desktop computer line in about 3,000 beginning June 10. Dell spokesman Dwayne Cox said the Wal-Madeal "represents our first step" into Wal-Mar- ts rt Since its founding in the 1980s, Dell has relied on selling PCs and other products directly new ways to buy our products, to consumers and business and we plan on meeting their customers over the phone and needs on a global level," Cox said. "Offering Dell Dimensions Internet. It viewed direct sales is a great example in Wal-Maas an important cost advantage of this approach." over competitors who sold comCox said Dell will announce puters through retailers. additional moves into retail in The strategy worked, helpthe coming quarters, but he ing Dell become the world's declined to give specifics. leading PC maker. But last d The two Dimension E521 mod- year, the Round rt Rock-base- els will be sold at in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Dell said it could not reveal specific prices yet. On its Web site, the cheapest Dimension E521 costs $359. Wal-Mar- ts company lost its lead to a revitalized Hewlett-Packar- d Co., which now sells systems online, by phone and in stores. Dell's disappointing financial results led to the ouster of Chief Executive Kevin Rollins in January. He was replaced by founder Michael Dell, who in the 80s laid down the company's core model of building computers as customers ordered them, holding only a few day's worth of components in inventory. Morningstar analyst Rick Hanna said Michael Dell was "the right person" to adjust the company's strategy. "I think we're seeing the logic of him stepping back in the CEO role, because if anybody could empower the company to move in a new direction, it's the guy who founded it," Hanna said. What Bubble? Award Springville manufacturer named Ernst & Young award finalist Bryan Welton Jr., CEO of Namifiers, a Springville maker of name tags, badge holders, and other customized identification and promotional products, was named a finalist for the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award in Utah. The winners will be announced at a special gala on June 7 at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City. The award recognizes entrepreneurs who have demonstrated success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Founded in 2001, Namifiers now has 60,000 customers and its product offering has expanded to include ID lanyards, office signage, event supplies, vinyl banners and posters, and printed promotional items. SI i i NATIONAL BRIEFING A Best Buy accused of overcharging buyers Connecticut's attorney general HARTFORD, Conn. announced a lawsuit Thursday against Best Buy Co. Inc., accusing the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer of deceiving customers with computer kiosks and overcharging them. The lawsuit, which will be filed in Hartford Superior Court, accuses Best Buy of denying deals found at the company's Web site, www.BestBuy.com. Attorney General Richard said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a lookalike internal Web site. "Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal a scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher prices," Blumenthal said. to stop charging for Pipeline CNN.com Stocks of Local Interest Yesterday's performance of selected publicly traded companies COMPANY AA ALC0AINC ABSY ABS0LUTE5KY LAST CHANGE INC NEV SYM COMPANY LAST CHANGE 4021 0.16 MYGN Myriad 0.20 0.03 NATR NATURES SUNSHINE 29.00 0.76 NETM 4737 1.53 NOV! NetManage, Inc NcveMnc 71.54 0.37 NUS Ire 38.62 1.17 11.60 0.05 5.08 0.02 7.58 0.12 NU SKIN ENT INC 17.64 0.01 5024 0.95 0.70 Genetics. ABX BARRICK GOLD CP AP AMER ELECTRIC AKj AMERINTL AMD ADV MICRO DEVICES 14.88 0.33 NWN NORTHWEST AMGN Amgenlnc 54.57 0.11 OMTR Omniture.lnc 18.41 BAC BK 51.05 0.30 PCG PG&E CP 49.33 1.08 BAM BROOKflELD 62.98 2.01 PFE PFIZER INC 2728 0.06 53.92 0.83 Q QWEST COMM 9.87 0.19 54.93 O.08 RZ RASER TECHNOLOGIES 2.81 POW CO GROUP OF AMERICA INC CP ASSET MGT NAT GAS Bll BAIL CP C CITIGROUP CBAG CRESTED CORP SCO Group, 0.88 0.00 Comcast Corporation 26.56 0.18 0.46 SC0X CMCSK SCPWF SCOTTISH PWR PLC 15.85 0.00 CVX CHEVRON 79.97 1.43 SHLD Sears Holdings Corp 178.94 0.39 1902 Sll SMITHINTLINC 53.75 1.59 SKYW 26.80 0.12 SNT0 SkyWestlnc. Sento Corporation STR QUESTARCP INC . CORP Corporation 70.92 Ericsson Telephone 37.96 0.19 0.64 0.54 0.32 110.94 3.47 SY 739 0.02 37.38 23.04 DAL DELTA AIR UNES NEW DIS WALT 35.84 C DNEX Dionex ERIC LM ETR ENTERGY FC FRANKLIN COVEY CO GE GEN ELECTRIC CO HRB H R BLOCK INC HSIC Henry CP 52.31 Scheii, Inc IBM INTL BUSINESS INTC Intel Inc 60.16 1.56 art, which marks summer and winter THE TRAVELERS CO 54.75 UDR UDRINC 28.41 0.88 0.39 028 0.19 5421 34.18 10.83 0.07 USEG U.S. Energy Corp. 78.87 0.08 USNA USANA 51.57 0.17 UTMD 5.67 0.41 3906 0.48 Utah Medical Products 31.92 0.009 Health Sciences O.01 VZ VERIZON COMMUN 42.54 0.19 WB WACHOVIA 55.45 0.13 0.46 39.62 0.62 CP 14.47 O.02 WEN WENDYS 62.53 033 WFC WELLS FARGO 92.61 121 WMT WAL MART STORES INTL INC & CO MITY MITY 21.16 0.01 WNI SCH1FF NUTRIT INTL MMSI 11.93 O.04 X UNITED STATES MSFT Merit Medfcal Systems Microsoft Corporation 30.17 0.41 XEL XOL MU MICRON TECHNOLOGY 11.81 028 BON Zions Bancorporaoon Enterprises Inc. j - TARGET CP 54.74 MLC0CMNSTK PRESS TRV 24.79 MER oil-and-g-as TGT GROUP STta ENERGY INC 36.04 0.05 46.65 0.32 6.82 0.09 106.42 22.45 0.92 0.75 8022 0 45 solstices. auction on Nobody bid at an a piece of land adjoining the artwork in Box Elder County. The proposed lease, part of an auction held Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, brought a protest from Nancy Holt, the New Mexico artist who created the work. She feared oil rigs or gas.wells would overshadow the art and turn the area industriaL "I'm glad that nothing happened," Holt, 69, said Wednesday. "But it still could go up for lease and I think it's a very strange process." t sell homes. They cautioned against reading too much 16.2 percent jump in sales, the first increase after three consecu0 A MJ JASONDJFMA tive months of sales declines. Analysts noted that this series SOURCE: Department ot Commerce AP is subject to wide revisions and that much of the strength The median price of a new came from a big increase in home the midway point bethe South, which they said tween the costliest and cheapest fell to $229,100, a record could be partially weather-relate11.1 percent below the March David Seiders, chief econolevel. The price was 10.9 percent below the level of a year mist for the National Association of Home Builders, said he ago, the biggest year overwas looking for sales of new year price decline since 1970. homes to fall by 18 percent for On Wall Street, the stock the whole year, matching last market retreated as hopes faded that the Federal Reyear's decline. Sales of both new and ex serve will have to resort to an 022 ENTERPRISES AIRLINES ASSOCIATED 981,000 0.2 Paul Foy THE ly interest rate cut to stimulate the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 84.52 points to close at 13,441.13. Analysts said the drop in home prices probably reflected efforts by builders to cut prices more aggressively to 0.4 0.37 0.67 US BANCORP CORP 0.6 Oil wells won't SALT LAKE CITY be bobbing near the Sun Tunnels land LEE MCKESSON 0.8 0.01 Kronos Incorporated SOUTHWEST No bids for 0.01 2.08 KR0N LUV .2 million units 1.0 7.350.14 LEE MCK one-mon- 1 40.42 UNITEDHEALTH INC single-fami- AT&T INC. USB NORDSTROM Sales of new homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate: T UNH JWN The beleaguered housing industry is sending mixed signals, with sales of new homes surging in April by the biggest amount in 14 years while prices endured a record plunge. Analysts said the price drop could provide evidence of builders' desperation. They are looking to reduce a glut of unsold homes in the face of the worst slump in sales in more than a decade. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that sales homes of new single-famil- y jumped by 16.2 percent in April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 981,000 units. That was the biggest sales gain since a 16.4 percent surge in April 1993. Even with the increase, however, sales are 10.6 percent below the level of a year ago. 2.05 1.63 K CO H0LWN New home sales PRESS 0.13 0.72 PENNEY ASSOCIATED 23.10 21.97 JBLU THE SYBASE INC 103.95 JCP (The) Martin Crutsinger 103.10 MACH Corporation JetBlue Airways Corp INTL INC RAOUXAssoclated Press U.S. home sales soar while prices plunge WASHINGTON NEW YORK CNN will give away access to an online video service that now costs $25 a year, becoming the latest news organization to revamp its revenue model on the Web. Spokeswoman Jennifer Martin said the change, effective July 1, reflected lower costs associated with delivering bandwidth-intensive video. "People don't like to pay for stuff on the Internet," she said. "We're not going to deny it, but we also had to make sure from a cost perspective that we got to the stage where it made sense to offer it for free." SYM JOHN Construction workers build the roof on a new home in Davenport, Fla., on Wednesday. Sales of new homes surged in April by the biggest amount in 14 years, but the median price of a new home dropped by the largest amount on record. isting homes set records for five consecutive years until 2006, when real estate suffered what many believe was a bursting of a speculative bubble. The association's confidence survey for home builders returned in May to the low point for this downturn, set last September. Builders have grown more worried that tightened lending standards in the wake of rising defaults, especially for subprime mortgages, will further weaken demand in coming months. Seiders said half of all builders report they are cutting prices; this comes on top of aggressive'ise of incentives such as free decks and kitchen upgrades in an effort to move homes. The inventory of unsold new homes fell slightly to 532,000 in April. It still would take six months to deplete this inventory at the April sales rate. parcel near Sun Tunnels land art The BLM had 1,280 acres of desert land up for lease on the western edge of the Great Basin desert near Lucih, next to the 43 acres owned by Holt. The parcel drew no bids for drilling rights but will remain open for two years at a minimum price of $2 an acre, BLM spokeswoman Mary Wilson said Wednes- 18 feet long and 9 feet in diameter in an X pattern, aligning the tubes with the sun as it rises and sets during the summer and winter solstices. Holes cut in the concrete also make art out of sunshine every day. Sun Tunnels is considered historically significant but has no protected status. "It day. certainly has attracted many visitors, a lot of them Europeans," she said. Holt said she wouldn't have been notified of the auction had she not been tipped Holt has owned the property since 1973, off by the Southern Utah Wilderness the year her late husband Robert Smith-so- n Alliance. She called BLM's auction procedied. He built the Spiral Jetty, a s dures "an odd kind of situation.'' art installation on the north end of The drilling parcel was norninated the Great Salt Lake. for auction by an unidentified industry A few years ago, Holt discovered that player, but BLM officials had predicted somebody was trying to sell her 43cre it probably wouldn't sell because it had a parcel sun tunnels and all on the low potential for oil For that reason, they Internet auction site eBay. She said she turned down Holt's protest appeal couldn't convince eBay it was not a legitiIn 1976, Holt placed the four cement mate sale and had to hire a lawyer. tubes world-famou- ; I t . . . s v V . L r ...... . r |