Top 10 Stories / APRIL 30-MAY 4

1. Studios, Writers Guild Tentatively Agree to Pact: Hollywood studios and writers tentatively signed off on a new three-year contract that will avert a potentially disastrous strike. Under the terms of the settlement, writers will receive a percentage of profits for the first time. The tentative settlement between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came after more than 100 hours of intense bargaining over the last two weeks. The contract must still be approved by the guild’s 11,500 members. In the end, the economic impact of a strike on the studios and the local economy kept both sides at the bargaining table until a deal was reached.

A Times Staff Writer

*

2. Job Layoffs Reach 10-Year High in April: Corporate America shed more jobs last month than at any time in the last decade, driving the unemployment rate to a 2 1/2-year high of 4.5% and dampening hopes of confining the economy’s troubles to a few industries or regions. April’s loss of 223,000 jobs, together with March’s 53,000-job decline, represented the first big setbacks of the current downturn to hit working Americans. Besides the sheer size of the job loss--the largest since the recession of 1991--the new figures suggest the spread of problems to the previously strong services and construction sectors.

A Times Staff Writer

*

3. EarthLink Co-Founder Is Accused of Fraud: Investors are accusing Reed E. Slatkin, a co-founder of the giant Internet service provider EarthLink Inc., of operating a Ponzi scheme that may have resulted in the loss of least $35 million of their funds. Slatkin has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for more than a year because of his investment management activities. Attorneys say Slatkin invested more than $300 million for a nationwide network of more than 100 friends, business partners and Church of Scientology members. Four top EarthLink executives and officers, including whiz-kid founder and Chairman Sky Dayton, 29, are among those who invested with Slatkin, who filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, listing debts of more than $100 million.

Liz Pulliam Weston

*

4. Duke Energy’s Offer to Gov. Davis Denounced: Duke Energy Corp., one of the largest independent power producers in California, acknowledged that it had offered Gov. Gray Davis political support in exchange for his dropping state investigations into its pricing activities. The offer was immediately denounced by lawmakers and consumer advocates. For its part, the North Carolina-based company said it was offering to help Davis win political support for aspects of his energy plan, including the purchase of the electric transmission system from the state’s investor-owned utilities. The governor’s office described the Duke offer as a “wish list” and said the governor had no plans to scuttle investigations by Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer.

A Times Staff Writer

*

5. EMI-Bertelsmann Deal Dies on EC Opposition: EMI Group of Britain and Bertelsmann of Germany last week quashed their plan to merge into the world’s largest record company. The merger unraveled after five months of staunch opposition from the European Commission, which believed it would damage consumers by reducing the number of global record competitors from five to four. The deal’s collapse raises questions about the future of EMI, home to Janet Jackson and Nikka Costa, and Bertelsmann, which releases music by OutKast and Christina Aguilera. Though EMI maintains a buoyant international business, the company has long faltered in the U.S., the dominant market for CD sales--where it ranks last.

Chuck Philips

*

6. Pulte to Buy Del Webb in $1.8-Billion Deal: Pulte Corp. agreed Tuesday to purchase Phoenix-based Del Webb Corp. in a $1.8-billion deal to create the nation’s largest home builder and senior-community developer. The stock and debt transaction fits with the strategy of Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte to attract home buyers from their first purchase through retirement. With its Sun City developments, Del Webb is the nation’s largest builder of “active” adult communities where seniors can play golf and pursue other avocations in gated developments that bar children from permanent residence. Together, the companies will have $6 billion in revenue and sell more than 28,000 homes a year and will control large land tracts in such popular Sun Belt states as Arizona, Florida, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas.

Jerry Hirsch

*

7. Napster in Talks With Microsoft on Security: Napster Inc., the beleaguered online song-swapping service, has been looking for help from software powerhouse Microsoft Corp. in its struggle to make peace with the music industry. Sources say Napster and Microsoft have been talking about a deal to use Microsoft’s copyright-protection technology in a new fee-based version of the Napster service, one that would pay the labels and music publishers for downloaded songs. Nothing has been finalized, but the two companies are still talking. Meanwhile, two new studies showed that Napster’s popularity is rapidly dwindling as the company becomes more adept at blocking users from making unauthorized copies of songs.

Jon Healey

*

8. Southland Traders to See Big Slowdown: After an unusually strong showing last year, Southern California traders should expect a dramatic slowdown in the coming year thanks to a sluggish global economy, the strong dollar and political uncertainties in Asia, according to a Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. report released Thursday. The annual assessment predicts two-way trade through the Los Angeles Customs District will expand by just 2.8% to $236.5 billion in 2001, down from last year’s 16.7% growth. However, Southern California will fare better than the north, which will bear the brunt of the international slowdown due to its dependency on technology. Evelyn Iritani

*

9. Chinese, U.S. Hackers Escalate Online Battle: Chinese and U.S. hackers escalated their cyber war last week in a rising battle of online mischief triggered by the real-world conflict over the U.S. spy plane episode. Hundreds of Web sites were defaced by Chinese hackers and their U.S. counterparts, who replaced home pages with jingoistic taunts or propaganda. The cyber battle appears to be the first concerted, though apparently ad hoc, effort on the part of American hackers to battle counterparts in another nation over a political conflict. Experts warned that if such attacks turned malicious--such as destroying or stealing data--international tensions could rise.

Charles Piller

*

10. Founders Bank Merger With 2 Others Completed: Founders National Bank, the only black-owned commercial bank in Los Angeles, completed its merger with two East Coast banks to create the third-largest African American-run financial institution in the U.S. The new company touts itself as the first black-owned bank to offer services from coast to coast. The deal merged Founders, Boston Bank of Commerce and Peoples Bank of Commerce, of Miami, to create a national “community bank,” with assets of more than $265 million and about 120 employees. The new company will serve customers in Los Angeles, Boston and Miami, and will likely be based in Los Angeles. The bank probably will be headquartered in Los Angeles.

Karen Robinson-Jacobs