Here is a look at more of Monday's top business stories:
EBay Inc. buys PayPal for $1.5 billion
SAN JOSE, Calif., July 8 (UPI) -- Online auctioneer eBay Inc. said it has reached an agreement to acquire PayPal Inc. in a stock deal valued at approximately $1.5 billion.
EBay said it will exchange 0.39 eBay share for each Mountain View, Calif.-based PayPal share.
The deal values PayPal at about $23.61 a share based on eBay's closing Nasdaq stock price on Friday of $60.55.
PayPal, which went public in February, closed Friday at $20 a share.
The deal is subject to various stockholder, government and regulatory approvals and is expected to close around year-end 2002.
The deal is expected to be immediately accretive to eBay's pro-forma earnings per share. On a GAAP basis the company said it will initially incur incremental charges for stock-based compensation and amortization of intangible assets of approximately $4 million and $9 million per quarter, respectively.
Accordingly, eBay expects the transaction to be dilutive on a GAAP reported basis.
Meg Whitman, president and chief executive officer of eBay, said, "EBay and PayPal have complementary missions. We both empower people to buy and sell online.
"Together we can improve the user experience and make online trading more compelling. We can also capture greater value from the e-commerce opportunities occurring both on and off our site," Whitman said.
Peter Thiel, chief executive officer of PayPal, said, "EBay and PayPal have built vibrant user networks on the Internet. The beauty of this deal is that it will allow us to offer our communities new tools and added flexibility to do more business. Integrating our services is a win-win situation for millions of current and future online consumers."
PayPal, which will continue to operate as an independent brand, is a leading online payments solution.
Approximately 60 percent of PayPal's business takes place on eBay, the remaining 40 percent occurs primarily among small merchants who constitute a potential new audience for eBay.
EBay said its current payment service, eBay Payments by Billpoint, will be phased out after the close of the transaction.
EBay also reported second quarter pro forma earnings of 19 cents a share and revenue of $266 million, above the average analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Financial/First Call of 17 cents and $264.3 million.
The online auctioneer attributed the better-than-expected results to acceleration in its U.S. transaction business.
EBay's complete second-quarter earnings results will be announced July 18.
Earnings decline at Alcoa
PITTSBURGH, July 8 (UPI) -- Alcoa Inc., the world's largest aluminum producer, said its second-quarter net income fell to $232 million, or 27 cents a share, from $307 million, or 35 cents a share during the same period last year.
Analysts on Wall Street had expected Alcoa to post a net income of 28 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Alcoa, which is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, said revenue slipped to $5.24 billion from $5.99 billion a year ago, but were up 5 percent over the first quarter. It's the first sequential increase in six quarters.
Alcoa said automotive, commercial transportation, and industrial product sectors "showed strength," during the quarter, along with seasonal expansions in building and construction, packaging and consumer markets.
Improvements in those areas offset weakness in the aerospace and industrial gas turbine markets.
Alain Belda, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "Despite essentially flat aluminum prices, we achieved higher profits driven by improving shipment levels, and on-going control of costs and operating expenses through continuing deployment of the Alcoa Business System.
"If economic trends solidify, we should continue to see improving profitability over the second half of the year, even at current aluminum prices," he added.
Bruker Daltonics cuts staff by 10 percent
BILLERICA, Mass., July 8 (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical firm Bruker Daltonics Inc. said it will cut its work force by 10 percent to cut costs and said it would reach its 2003 earnings targets.
The company said it expects revenue growth of 18 percent to 22 percent for 2002, but earnings will depend on the final restructuring charge related to the job cuts.
Bruker Daltonics said in view of the on going uncertain economic conditions it has implemented an aggressive cost-cutting program for its United States and German operations, including a workforce reduction of approximately 10 percent.
The workforce reduction has already begun and is being implemented, the company said.
In the second quarter the company expects to take an associated restructuring charge of approximately $2 million.
Frank Laukien, president and chief executive officer, said, "As demand in several customer segments is experiencing slower growth, we are taking decisive action to reduce our cost structure. Once fully implemented, we expect cost savings of about $2.5 million next year, which should allow us to maintain our previous goal of 12 to 15 cents a share earnings in 2003.
"We have proven that our growth is resilient even in a weak economy, and we are optimistic about our future growth prospects. Fundamentally, our life-science research and pharma/biotech markets have healthy long-term trends, and we see strong funding for our life-science systems based on mass spectrometry, due to their enabling role in critical fields like genotyping, proteomics and metabolomics," Laukien added.
The company also said its life science bookings rose 22 percent in the second quarter compared with a year earlier as slower growth in spending by business was offset by growth in sales to universities and the government.
