BRIEFCASE IHOP SIGNS DEAL FOR UP TO 40 SITES.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

GLENDALE - IHOP Corp. has signed on a major franchisee to develop up to 40 restaurants over the next eight years, the chain announced Tuesday.

David Paradise and his partners will add to their current stable of 56 Taco Bell and 13 Applebee's restaurants. Paradise will develop five IHOPs in Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio, in the next 18 months and acquire five already-built IHOPs from other franchisees. As part of a separate agreement, Paradise has an option to develop an additional 35 restaurants in the next eight years.

CinemaNow gets growth financing

SANTA MONICA - CinemaNow Inc. on Tuesday secured $11 million in financing from venture capital company Menlo Ventures, Cisco Systems and a previous investor, Lions Gate Entertainment.

Proceeds will be used to further technology development, content acquisition and marketing. The company also expects to broaden its presence in Europe and Asia, officials said.

``As the leader in the digital distribution of video content, CinemaNow is at the forefront of defining new models for how, where and when people access entertainment content,'' said Chief Executive Officer Curt Marvis.

``We are thrilled that two leaders in the investment and technology communities, Menlo Ventures and Cisco Systems, share our vision and believe in CinemaNow's ability to continue as a major force in this rapidly growing industry,'' he said.

The company's Web site makes feature films available on pay-per-view, subscription and download-to-own bases and is accessible worldwide.

Consumer trust highest in 2 years

NEW YORK - Consumer confidence reached a two-year high in July, the fourth straight month of improvement, as the job market continued to recover. The increase was greater than analysts were expecting and helped push stocks higher on Wall Street. A separate report showed that new home sales dipped less than expected in June and remained at their second-highest level on record.

The Conference Board, a private research group based in New York, reported Tuesday that its index of consumer confidence in U.S. business conditions jumped to 106.1 in July, up from 102.8 in June and ahead of the figure of 102.0 that investors had been expecting. It was the highest level for the indicator since June 2002.

The group attributed the sharp increase to continued improvement in the labor market, with more consumers reporting that they believed jobs were plentiful and fewer expecting that conditions would worsen over the next six months.

CEOs even richer in 2003 than in '02

NEW YORK - The median pay for a chief executive officer in the United States increased by 15 percent last year, and rose even more - 22 percent - for CEOs at larger companies, according to a survey by The Corporate Library.

Despite some calls for more restraint in CEO pay, 2003 was a richer year for the executives than 2002, when total compensation rose by a median of 9.5 percent.

The just-released 2003 survey showed increases in almost every category of executive compensation, including base salary, annual bonus, total annual compensation, restricted stock, long-term incentive payouts and the value realized from the exercise of stock options.