IN BRIEF
Shuffle Master shares record biggest plunge
Shuffle Master, the maker of casino roulette-chip sorters and card shufflers, tumbled the most ever in Nasdaq trading after posting an unexpected first-quarter loss.
Shuffle Master plunged $1.88, or 26.11 percent, to $5.32 on the Nasdaq National Market trading for the biggest slide since the company first sold shares to the public in December 1992. The stock has lost 56 percent this year.
The loss was $1.8 million, or 5 cents a share, for the quarter ended Jan. 31, reversing profit of $2.03 million, or 6 cents, the year before. Four analysts polled by Bloomberg estimated earnings of 7 cents per share.
BATON ROUGE, La.
Reno-based company takes control of resort
Eldorado Resorts has won the backing of state regulators to take full control of a Shreveport casino-hotel in a $9.2 million deal with a bondholders group.
Reno-based Eldorado will acquire the group's 23.6 percent interest in the complex. The Louisiana Gaming Control Board approved the deal Tuesday.
The casino, originally known as Hollywood Casino, opened in 2000 but failed to live up to expectations. Shortly after its purchase by Penn National Gaming, the casino went into default on $189 million in bonds and notes. Penn National put the casino up for sale after negotiations with bondholders failed.
Eldorado completed a $169.1 million purchase in 2005 of the casino, now known as the Eldorado Resort. Two Eldorado-controlled entities hold the remaining ownership interest.
BOSTON
Governor concedes casino plan failing
Gov. Deval Patrick conceded Tuesday his plan to license three resort-style casinos in Massachusetts is heading for likely defeat in the Legislature, blaming "undue pressure from House leadership."
But Patrick, in his second year as governor, isn't giving up on the idea. He said he's still looking for ways to make the bill stronger.
"I have no illusions about the plans in the House for this legislation," he said Tuesday at a packed legislative hearing. "I'm simply asking that an open debate begin, rather than end, today."
The hearing could determine the fate of Patrick's bill for the current legislative session. Patrick says casinos would generate new jobs and revenue. Critics warn the proposal exaggerates the economic benefits and would bring increased crime and even worsen the foreclosure crisis if gambling addicts spend their mortgage payments on slot machines.
SAN FRANCISCO
Stock offering raises $17.9 billion for Visa
Visa raised $17.9 billion late Tuesday to complete the largest initial public offering in U.S. history and help prop up the wobbly financial services industry.
The world's largest processor of credit and debit cards sold 406 million shares at $44 apiece to easily eclipse the previous U.S. record IPO of $10.6 billion set by AT&T Wireless eight years ago.
The IPO price topped the range of $37 to $42 per share that Visa set three weeks ago just before its executives began meeting with institutional investors and analysts to drum up interest.
If investment bankers exercise an option on another 40.6 million shares, Visa's IPO will end up raising $19.7 billion before expenses.
Visa shares, trading under the V ticker symbol, are scheduled to begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange.
DALLAS
Airlines say worries cool ardor for mergers
Airlines executives say worries about recession, high fuel prices and tighter credit seem to have cooled the consolidation fever that gripped the industry a few weeks ago.
Instead, they turned their comments Tuesday toward cutting costs and reducing flights, which could give them more power to raise fares.
Delta Air Lines set the tone by offering buyouts to 30,000 employees as the likelihood of a deal with Northwest Airlines Corp. faded.
Executives at other carriers also talked about controlling costs and raising fares while planes are still packed.
Continental expects its 2008 fuel bill to be $1.5 billion or more higher than last year, or about three times its profit for all of 2007.
United Airlines says it faces a $1.2 billion increase in fuel costs, Delta expects to pay $900 million more, and Northwest is budgeting an extra $800 million.
SAN FRANCISCO
Yahoo offers investors outlook for two years
Yahoo has released a rosy outlook for the next two years, hoping to give investors a better understanding why the slumping Internet pioneer isn't willing to sell to Microsoft Corp. for less than $45 billion.
Analysts interpreted the company's unscheduled disclosure Tuesday as a sign that Yahoo's attempts to find an alternative deal to Microsoft's 61/2-week-old offer are failing.
The Sunnyvale-based company has been exploring alliances with Google, News Corp.'s MySpace.com and Time Warner's America Online.
WASHINGTON
Bidding closes on auction for airwaves
Bidding has closed on a record-setting government airwaves auction, with the total amount pledged reaching nearly $19.6 billion. But enthusiasm in the result was tempered by doubts concerning the future of a proposed emergency communications network.
The total was the most bid since the Federal Communications Commission began using auctions in 1994 to decide who should be granted rights to use the publicly owned airwaves.
About one-sixth of the spectrum at auction was dedicated to the creation of an emergency communications network for first responders. But the so-called D block did not attract the minimum bid required by FCC auction rules.
NEW YORK
Treasurys sold off after rate cut misses hopes
Treasury prices sold off Tuesday after the Federal Reserve announced a smaller-than-expected interest rate cut and signaled it is growing more worried about rising inflation.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped 0.5 points to 101 with a yield of 3.39 percent, up from 3.30 percent late Monday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.
The 30-year long bond rose 0.06 points to 100.5 with a yield of 4.27 percent, down from 4.28 percent late Monday.
