BUSINESS BRIEFS
Another record gas price adds to pain at the pump
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The cost of filling up the family car climbed to a record high yesterday, adding to the challenges consumers already face with falling home values and rising food prices.
Gas prices at the pump rose overnight to a record national average of $3.2272 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's slightly higher than the previous record of $3.2265, set last May.
GOOGLE FINALIZES DOUBLECLICK DEAL
SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc.'s long-anticipated acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick Inc. is expected to turn the Internet search leader into an even more powerful marketing vehicle that's fueled by better insights about consumers.
The $3.1 billion deal, completed yesterday after nearly a year of regulatory wrangling, also may intensify the pressure on Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. to resolve their stormy courtship so they don't risk further distractions while Google tries to sprint further ahead in the race for Internet advertising.
Google took control of DoubleClick a few hours after Europe's antitrust regulators removed the final stumbling block by approving a deal that was first announced 11 months ago.
U.S. TRADE DEFICIT SWELLS TO $58.2B
WASHINGTON — The United States' trade deficit grew larger in January as imports — including crude-oil prices — zoomed to all-time highs.
The latest snapshot of trade activity, reported by the Commerce Department yesterday, showed that the country's trade gap increased to $58.2 billion. That was up from a trade shortfall of $57.9 billion in December and was the highest since November.
Imports of goods and services climbed to a record high of $206.4 billion in January. The United States' voracious appetite for imported crude oil, where prices skyrocketed to the loftiest on record, figured into the increasing demand for overall imports.
The trade gap widened even as exports of U.S.-made goods and services totaled a record high of $148.2 billion in January. The declining value of the U.S. dollar, relative to other currencies such as the euro, is helping to make U.S.-made goods cheaper and thus more attractive to foreign buyers.
3 PLACED ON LEAVE IN AIRLINE PROBE
DALLAS — Southwest Airlines Co., which is accused of operating planes that had missed key safety inspections, said yesterday it has placed three employees on leave and hired an outside expert to review its maintenance procedures.
The airline also said it has promised federal regulators that it will fix any shortcomings in its system of tracking maintenance work.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $10.2 million civil penalty — the largest ever against an airline — after finding that Southwest had missed safety inspections for dozens of planes, then kept flying some of them before they could be examined.
Southwest did not identify the employees who were placed on leave by name or position. Spokeswoman Beth Harbin said the three are being paid.
BOEING PROTESTS TANKER CONTRACT
WASHINGTON — Boeing Co. yesterday filed a formal protest of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract, saying the "seriously flawed" selection was "replete with irregularities" and resulted in the "wrong airplane for the warfighter."
The comments came as Boeing filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office over the Air Force decision to award the high-stakes deal to European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
The Chicago-based company has been supplying aerial refueling tankers to the Air Force for nearly 50 years, a fact that the Air Force ignored, Boeing said.
