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Youbet files SEC shelf registration

WOODLAND HILLS - Online gaming site Youbet.com Inc. announced Monday that it has filed a $50 million universal shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Once approved by the SEC, the shelf registration statement would permit Youbet to sell, in one or more public offerings, up to $50 million in stock and securities, though the company has no immediate plans beyond evaluating future acquisitions, said Chairman and CEO Charles F. Champion.

``Once effective, we believe that the shelf registration statement will provide Youbet with the additional flexibility it may need to fund these growth opportunities with registered securities,'' he said.

Allstate agrees to pay fine in case

BURBANK - State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced on Monday a settlement under which Allstate Insurance Co. will pay $30 million to about 250,000 Californians allegedly overcharged for auto and homeowner policies.

Without admitting wrongdoing, the company also has agreed to pay a $4 million fine, according to Garamendi's office.

Rogers replacing Ramsay at TiVo

ALVISO, Calif. - TiVo Inc. on Monday said Vice Chairman Tom Rogers will replace Mike Ramsay as the company's president and chief executive Friday.

Rogers, who formerly served as chairman and CEO of media publisher Primedia Inc., joined TiVo in 1999 and became vice chairman of the board in October 2004.

Treasury bill rates at four-year high

WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction to the highest levels in nearly four years.

The Treasury Department auctioned $16 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 3.080 percent, up from 2.965 percent last week. An additional $14 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 3.220 percent, up from 3.175 percent last week.

IBM investigated over disclosures

ARMONK, N.Y. - International Business Machines Corp. said Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating it over IBM's disclosures of first-quarter earnings information and the expensing of stock-based compensation.

IBM said the investigation was informal and not an indication that any violations of law have occurred.

Dissident groups defy AFL-CIO plan

WASHINGTON - Union leaders who govern the AFL-CIO voted Monday to support President John Sweeney's plans to boost organizing efforts and continue political activities for pro-labor candidates and policies, but leaders representing a coalition of five dissident unions voted against Sweeney's proposals.

That coalition of unions challenging Sweeney picked up strength Monday when the main national carpenters union joined the effort to challenge the AFL-CIO. The carpenters union broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2001.

The dissident unions - the Teamsters, the Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers, UNITE HERE and Laborers International Union - joined in mid-June.

Fannie Mae taps new audit leader

WASHINGTON - Mortgage giant Fannie Mae, whose accounting is under investigation by federal regulators, said Monday that it has named a new chief audit executive from outside the company.

S. Jean Hinrichs, who is a certified internal auditor and fraud examiner with experience at a large investment firm and the Federal Reserve, will assume the job of senior vice president for internal audit next month, Fannie Mae announced. She will report directly to the board of directors' audit committee.

Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. buyer of home mortgages, in December was ordered by the Securities and Exchange Commission to restate its earnings back to 2001.