Business notebook
One-time gain: Norwood-based Analog Devices, which makes semiconductors used in consumer electronics and cars, expects a one-time gain in the second quarter of $11 million to $12 million after selling a network processor and integrated circuit product line to Ikanos Communications for $31 million.
Stunned: Taser International is working on a 12-gauge shotgun shell designed to combine the blunt-force trauma of a fast-moving baseball with the electrical current of a stun gun.
Same, but different: America Online, seeking to encourage subscribers to sign up for high-speed connections, is raising the price of its main dial-up plan to that of its new broadband offerings. Most subscribers will pay $25.90 a month for either dial-up or broadband beginning March 9, although AOL is offering discounts to dial-up subscribers who commit to a year.
On tap: Anheuser-Busch will be the sole US distributor of Grolsch beer, a high-end European import. Terms were not disclosed.
Buyout: The Sheraton Fisherman's Wharf hotel in San Francisco, one of 57 properties owned by MeriStar Hospitality, which said it has agreed to a $2.6 billion buyout by an arm of The Blackstone Group, a private investment firm. Blackstone will offer $10.45 per share. The MeriStar board has backed the deal which needs shareholder approval.
Ruling: US District Judge James R. Spencer in Virginia refused the US government's request to hold a hearing on how a proposed shutdown of BlackBerry service would develop, removing a potential delay in halting use of the portable e-mail device.
Back to work: Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Christopher Cox returned to work after several weeks recovering from surgery to remove a chest tumor, the agency said.
Pursued: The Sporting News, a media company owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, said it was weighing takeover offers from various financial and strategic companies. It did not name any of the suitors.
Crackdown: China is cracking down on junk e-mail and ''illegal" mobile phone text messages, the official Xinhua News Agency said. A regulation will ban sending e-mail for advertising purposes to people without their permission, and all advertising e-mail must be titled ''advertisement" or ''AD."
(Globe wire services)
