BRIEFCASE ONLINE MOVIE FIRM NAMES NEW LEADER.Byline: - From staff and wire reports Veteran satellite TV executive Jim Ramo has been named chief executive of a joint venture formed by five major movie studios to offer films over the Internet. The new company will be called Movielink and is expected to launch by the end of the year. The company was formed last year and is owned equally by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . Movielink will use technology developed by Sony, and formerly dubbed ``MovieFly,'' to offer movies that can be downloaded over high-speed Internet See broadband. lines and played on computers using security tools and movie players from Real Networks and Microsoft. Two Countrywide units sign pacts CALABASAS - Countrywide Credit Industries announced Tuesday that two of its insurance subsidiaries, Balboa Insurance Company and DirectNet Insurance Agency, Inc., have signed agreements with 21st Century Insurance. Under one agreement, Balboa assumed from 21st Century approximately 74,000 homeowner policies representing $30 million of annual premiums. As a result of this agreement, Balboa will provide former 21st Century customers with coverage. In a separate agreement, DirectNet has been selected by 21st Century as the preferred provider of home-related insurance products for their nearly one million auto insurance customers in California. The agreement will give DirectNet the opportunity to offer interested 21st Century auto customers a full suite of homeowner and renter products, including flood, earthquake and home-warranty protection. Local woman gets state film post Gov. Gray Davis announced Tuesday the appointment of a Studio City woman with an extensive film and TV background as deputy director of the California Film Commission. Melinda A. Farrell was ``responsible for writing creative campaigns for ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , HBO Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) A form of oxygen therapy in which the patient breathes oxygen in a pressurized chamber. Mentioned in: Ozone Therapy , Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures,'' according to a statement from the governor's office. As a senior executive at The Walt Disney Co., Farrell was involved in the development of ``Tarzan'' and ``The Goofy Movie.'' While at Paramount, Farrell worked on such films as ``Black Rain'' and ``He Said, She Said.'' Farrell will receive a salary of $80,628 a year. The position does not require Senate confirmation. IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) board selects CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. replacement NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of - In a major changing of the guard for the computing industry, IBM Corp.'s board of directors selected the company's president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. , Samuel J. Palmisano Samuel J. Palmisano (born July 29, 1951) is the current Chairman, CEO, and President of IBM, one of the world's largest IT companies. He was elected Chairman in October 2002, effective January 1, 2003, and has served as Chief Executive Officer since March 2002. , to replace Louis V. Gerstner as IBM chief executive. The succession will take effect on March 1, Gerstner's 60th birthday. Gerstner will remain IBM chairman through the end of 2002. Palmisano, a longtime IBM employee, rose through the ranks to lead several departments before being groomed for the top job. He took over day-to-day operations in September 2000 after a dramatic, Gerstner-led turnaround in Big Blue's fortunes. Merck announces Medco spinoff IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. - Drug giant Merck announced plans Tuesday to make its Merck-Medco pharmacy benefits management subsidiary a separate, publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. later this year. Officials at Whitehouse Station-based Merck plan to hold an initial public offering for a portion of Merck-Medco stock during the summer, subject to market conditions. A decision on how the remaining shares will be distributed has not been made. The two companies could be fully separated within 12 months of the IPO, officials said. Merck acquired the Franklin Lakes-based benefits management firm in 1993. Merck-Medco provides care for more than 65 million people and manages more than 537 million prescriptions each year. |
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