BUSINESS BRIEFS
Beachcomber buy completed
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Outrigger Enterprises Inc. recently assumed operations of the 500-room Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel after completing its previously announced plan to buy the leasehold property from an affiliate of Tokyo-based Mitsui Leasing & Development Ltd.
The hotel in the center of Waikiki next to the International Market Place is now known as the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber and is scheduled for renovation in 2007.
Outrigger declined to disclose a purchase price but recorded a $46.2 million mortgage on the property with Sunamerica Life Insurance Co., according to property records. The purchase excluded land under the hotel. The Queen Emma Foundation owns the land, which is leased to Outrigger through 2045.
Mel Kaneshige, Outrigger senior vice president, said the acquisition will help replace rooms lost in the ongoing $460 million redevelopment of several older Outrigger hotels on Lewers Street.
MICROSOFT PROFIT HELPS LIFT SHARES
SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. shares rose nearly 3 percent yesterday, a day after the world's largest software maker reported a 24 percent increase in its first-quarter profit.
The company's results were released after regular trading Thursday. Its shares rose 68 cents, or 2.7 percent, to close at $25.
A top Microsoft official said after the earnings report that sales of its new Xbox console and SQL Server are expected to grow steadily — rather than experiencing major spikes following next month's release dates.
WINTER WORRIES SEND OIL PRICE UP
NEW YORK — Oil prices held above $61 a barrel yesterday amid lingering concerns that U.S. oil facilities recovering from hurricane damage in the Gulf of Mexico will struggle to meet heating-oil demand as winter approaches.
Light, sweet crude for December delivery rose 13 cents to settle at $61.22 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, December Brent rose 28 cents to settle at $59.42 a barrel.
Concern is growing among traders that damage caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita will hurt the efforts of aging U.S. refineries to gear up for the winter.
