Palm Weighs a Spinoff

Palm Inc., the No. 1 maker of hand-held electronic organizers, may eventually spin off the division that makes its operating system software, Chief Executive Carl Yankowski said. Palm, itself spun off from 3Com Corp. earlier this year, also licenses its operating system to other firms and provides wireless Internet access and online services. Palm officials also said the company plans to make acquisitions to beef up its offerings of wireless Internet access and online information. Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Palm fell $5.06 to close at $47.44 on Nasdaq.