in brief

Kerkorian reduces stake in MGM Resorts International

Los Angeles-based billionaire Kirk Kerkorian now owns just 27 percent of MGM Resorts International, the company he founded, but remains the casino operator's largest shareholder.

Kerkorian, 93, sold 10.3 million shares of MGM Resorts through Tracinda Corp., his privately held investment arm, the casino company said Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Kerkorian, who is on MGM Resorts' board of directors, earned $52.2 million for the sale.

Through Tracinda, Kerkorian announced his intentions to sell stock when MGM Resorts said last month that it would issue additional shares to help restructure some of its long-term debt.

The company, which operates 10 casinos on the Strip including CityCenter, raised $511 million through the stock offering.

Kerkorian now owns 131.2 million shares in MGM Resorts, or 26.9 percent of the outstanding shares.

Stratosphere parent reports net loss during third quarter

Stratosphere parent American Casino & Entertainment Properties posted a net loss of $8.9 million in the third quarter, due largely to a 100 percent increase in interest expense.

In the same quarter a year ago, the company, which also owns the two Arizona Charlie's properties in Las Vegas and the Aquarius in Laughlin, had a net loss of $1.8 million.

American Casino said Friday that its quarterly revenues were $83.6 million, a decline of 4.7 percent from a year ago. The company blamed the drop on the Stratosphere, where occupancy, average daily room rate and customer spending slid.

Quarterly revenues increased only at the Aquarius, rising 5 percent from a year ago.

Hotel occupancy at the Stratosphere fell to 86 percent during the quarter from 93.2 percent a year ago.

Boyd Gaming stock drops
in wake of analyst's report

Boyd Gaming Corp. stock dropped 7.3 percent on Friday in the wake of a J.P. Morgan analyst's report that lowered its earnings estimates for the fourth quarter and 2011.

Morgan has given the company an "underweight" rating, similar to a sell recommendation.

"We believe our underweight rating is justified given meaningful and new competition in Atlantic City going forward, an anticipated weak recovery in the Las Vegas locals market and stagnant regional gaming trends," analyst Joseph Greff wrote.

In addition, he said that Boyd is trading at a premium compared with its peers. "We do not believe the recent run in shares is justified," he wrote.

Morgan has projected a $5-per-share target price by the end of next year. On Friday, Boyd closed at $9.45.

WASHINGTON

Big money, big profiles
in coming stock offerings

Everything about next week is big for new-stock offerings: The number of deals, the amount of money expected to be raised and the profiles of the companies going public.

The action may draw a wide range of investors into the U.S. stock market. If investors snap up stock of companies such as General Motors Co. and casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp., that could win over skittish traders who have taken refuge in the relative safety of bonds.

Stock in the week's biggest deal, General Motors, already may be scarce. Investment bankers handling the GM sale have more orders than stock for both the 365 million common shares and 60 million preferred shares that will be sold next week, a person briefed on the sale said Friday.

Orders for preferred stock amount to more than twice the number of shares, while orders for common stock are four to five times the number available, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about the sale.

NEW YORK

New brands help boost profits in third quarter for J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney reported Friday that its earnings rose 63 percent in the third quarter, as the department store chain says it saw strong reception to new exclusive brands such as Liz Claiborne and MNG by Mango.

But the company's gross profit margin slipped as the chain had to aggressively discount, sending shares down almost 2 percent. Shares slipped 65 cents to $31.56 in morning trading.

The department store chain said its net income was $44 million, or 19 cents per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 30, up from net income of $27 million, or 11 cents per share, a year earlier.

Gross profit margin slid to 39 percent from 40.6 percent in the quarter, due to its heavy discounting and the discontinuation of its big catalog.

Revenue rose 0.2 percent to $4.19 billion from $4.18 billion.

Thomson Reuters-polled analysts expected profit of 17 cents per share on revenue of $4.25 billion for the period.

SAN FRANCISCO

Chipmaker Intel Corp. raises its dividend by 15 percent

Intel Corp. is confident enough in the stability of its moneymaking skills to raise its dividend by 15 percent, even as Wall Street braces for a bumpy ride for the technology industry.

The chipmaker's announcement Friday follows a downcast description of the technology market by Cisco Systems Inc. Cisco dragged down stocks this week with a warning that government spending -- especially at the state and local level -- has suddenly turned sluggish. Many investors are worried that other technology companies are in line for a beating over the next several quarters and that the problems will spread to other industries.

SAN FRANCISCO

Google executives get
salary raises of 30 percent

Google Inc. has given its top executives a 30 percent salary bump, bigger than the 10 percent raise it gave its rank-and-file this week.

Google's top brass -- CEO Eric Schmidt and co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page -- will still take $1 a year in salary. Their fortunes are wrapped up in Google's stock.

But Google disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday that four top executives -- the chief financial officer and the heads of sales, engineering and product management -- will each see their pay jump to $650,000 next year, from $500,000 this year.

The executives also got equity awards worth a total of $55 million this year.

A spokesman said the company believes that "competitive compensation plans are important to the future of the company."

WASHINGTON

Bank shutdowns in Georgia,
Arizona bring total to 146

Regulators have shut down two banks in Georgia and one in Arizona, bringing to 146 the number of U.S. banks that have succumbed this year under the burden of bad loans and a tepid economy.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday took over the two Georgia banks: Darby Bank & Trust Co., based in Vidalia, with $654.7 million in assets; and Tifton Banking Co. of Tifton, with $143.7 million in assets. Also seized was Copper Star Bank, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., with $204 million in assets.