BRIEFCASE CELLULAR GIANT, GAMESTER PARTNER.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

CALABASAS - THQ Inc. will soon be on the phone for AT&T Wireless, as the video game maker announced a distribution deal with the cellular giant on Tuesday.

Subscribers to the mMode service will be able to amuse themselves with MotoGP, Tetris, Astrosmash and WWE Mobile Madness, available at prices from $1 to $4.99. In all, the catalog will boast 20 titles.

Wong Westfield's newest executive

CENTURY CITY - Westfield America, whose mall locations include Sherman Oaks, Woodland Hills and Canoga Park, announced Tuesday that Kenneth P. Wong has been named joint chief operating officer, responsible for directing the company's U.S. development and redevelopment projects.

Wong joins Westfield from The Related Cos. of New York, where he was partner and managed all facets of large-scale, urban mixed-use development projects in the western United States.

Wong previously spent nine years at The Walt Disney Co., where his titles included president of the Disney Development Co. and president of Walt Disney Imagineering, with global responsibility for the design, development and construction of all theme parks, rides and attractions, hotel, retail/dining/entertainment and corporate real estate assets.

Northrop begins buying back debt

CENTURY CITY - Northrop Grumman Corp. on Tuesday began the first phase of its debt reduction plan, with one of its units initiating offers to buy back $2.85 billion in debt securities.

The defense giant's Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Corp. unit - formerly TRW Inc. - will use proceeds from its recent sale of TRW Automotive to pay for the purchase of securities tendered in response to the offers, which expire Monday.

The prices will be calculated when a bond holder agrees to tender, the company said.

Last December, Northrop Grumman Corp. completed its $6.7 billion acquisition of TRW Inc., making it the nation's second-largest defense contractor behind Lockheed Martin Corp.

Separately Tuesday, Northrop Grumman reiterated its recently given 2003 and 2004 outlooks. Last week, Northrop cut its earnings estimate for 2003 as it set plans to reduce debt.

Hilton to install high-speed Net

BEVERLY HILLS - Hilton Hotels & Resorts announced plans today to install high-speed wireless Internet access at nearly 50 Hilton-brand hotels and resorts in major metropolitan areas throughout North America within the next 30 days.

The initiative is the first stage of what is expected to be a system-wide rollout of high-speed Internet access in Hilton's 230 full-service properties across the U.S., Canada and Mexico in the coming months.

Sylvan abandons tutoring business

BALTIMORE - Sylvan Learning Systems Inc. is selling its business of tutoring grade-school and high school students.

The Baltimore company said Monday night it will sell its well-known tutoring centers and related businesses to New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management LP for $275 million to $300 million in cash, stock and other considerations.

Sylvan said it will now focus entirely on higher education, a business it entered in 1999 when it began buying small colleges in other countries. The company's chairman, Douglas Becker, said that business has greater long-term potential for growth than tutoring U.S. children.