BRIEFCASE SABAN MAKES PLAY FOR BEZEQ STAKE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Haim Saban's private investment firm confirmed Wednesday its potential interest in purchasing a controlling stake in Israel's leading telecommunications provider from the Israeli government.

Saban Capital Group Inc. intends to file an application to participate in the bidding process for Bezeq - The Israel Telecommunication Corp. Ltd. - and provide the required letter of credit guarantee.

Los Angeles-based SCG, which specializes in the media and entertainment industries, was established in 2001 by Saban, founder of Fox Family Worldwide and Saban Entertainment, an international television, production, distribution and merchandising company.

The firm makes both controlling and minority investments in public and private companies and also owns Saban Music Group, which operates an independent music-publishing company.

IRIS International eyes more growth

CHATSWORTH - IRIS International Inc. expects to achieve revenue growth of 30 to 35 percent in 2004, exceeding its previously announced revenue guidance of 25 percent, the company announced Wednesday.

Chief Executive Officer Cesar Garcia said revenue guidance for this year was being upgraded on the heels of Tuesday's announcement that the company had record revenues of $11.8 million for the third quarter and $31.4 million for the nine months ended Sept. 30.

For all of 2003, the Chatsworth company had net revenue of $31.5 million.

THQ reports loss for third quarter

CALABASAS - THQ Inc. slipped into the red as it reported a $6.4 million third-quarter loss on Wednesday, but the video game publisher still beat its own expectations. With a loss of 16 cents per share, the quarter compared poorly with the same period a year ago, when it earned $3.6 million, 9 cents per share.

Sales also fell 24 percent to $96.3 million from $126.5 million a year ago. The company warned Wall Street previously to expect a loss of 20 cents per share this quarter with sales of only $82 million. Shares climbed $1.16, 6.68 percent, to close at $18.53 prior to the release.

Google purchases Keyhold map firm

SAN FRANCISCO - Google Inc. has bought digital map maker Keyhole Corp., extending the search engine leader's bid to fend off rivals with a toolbox that can catalog almost anything in the world.

Keyhole uses 3-D technology to provide faraway or close-up views of a region, neighborhood or specific address. The images, which rely on shots taken from satellites and airplanes, can be tilted into different positions.

Terms of the deal, which was announced Wednesday, were not disclosed.

Although the company isn't well known, Keyhole's technology received widespread attention during the early days of the Iraq war when CNN used the 3-D maps to zero in on the battlefront.

PayPal to waive fees to customers

SAN JOSE - Online payment service PayPal said it will essentially waive transaction fees for some customers today to make amends for the inconvenience caused by about five days of intermittent service outages earlier this month.

An untold number of PayPal's 56.7 million users were affected when online access was disrupted between Oct. 8 and Oct. 13 due to problems stemming from a sweeping upgrade of the PayPal system.