BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

Electro Rent buys Rush Computer

VAN NUYS - Electro Rent Corp. said Tuesday that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Rush Computer Rentals Inc., a private company headquartered in Wallingford, Conn.

Rush had revenue of approximately $10 million over the past 12 months from the rental and sale of a wide range of personal computers and related equipment to customers located primarily in the Northeast.

Electro Rent paid about $9.5 million in cash for Rush Computer.

Van Nuys-based Electro Rent is one of the largest companies specializing in the short-term rental and leasing of personal computers, servers and general purpose electronic test equipment.

Chiron Corp. Q4 profits up

SAN FRANCISCO - Chiron Corp. swung to a profit in the fourth quarter after re-entering the flu shot market in 2005, the biotechnology company reported Tuesday.

The Emeryville-based company, which set off a public health panic when it failed to deliver half the nation's flu shots in 2004, said it earned $144 million, or 71 cents a share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared to a $23 million loss, or 12 cents a share, in the same period in 2004.

If not for special expenses, Chiron said it would have earned $164 million, or 81 cents a share. On that basis, the results exceeded the per- share estimate among Wall Street analysts by 30 cents, according to research by Thomson Financial.

Motorola, Cingular sell iTunes phone

NEW YORK - Motorola Inc. and Cingular Wireless LLC are out with their second cell phone with Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes music service, and hope it's better received than the first iTunes phone.

The new phone, the SLVR L7, is a thin nonfolding phone, styled similarly to Motorola's best-selling RAZR clamshell phone. Cingular is selling it for $199.99 with a two-year contract.

The first phone that allowed owners to transfer music from their computer's iTunes library, the Motorola ROKR E1, launched in September.

Microsoft has new blog policy

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. says it is setting new policies on shutting down Web journals after its much-publicized squelching of a well-known Chinese blogger at the request of Chinese officials.

The Redmond software company, operator of a popular blogging technology called MSN Spaces, said Tuesday that it will endeavor to make blogs available to users elsewhere even if Microsoft decides it is legally obliged to block them in a particular country.

The company also pledged to provide users with a clear notice that it has shut down a Web site when the decision to do so stemmed from a legal mandate. Previously, it has simply said the content was unavailable.

AT&T forecasting boom through '09

SAN ANTONIO - AT&T Inc. said Tuesday that merger-related efficiencies and growth in its wireless, DSL and business services will produce strong profit growth in each of the next three years.

San Antonio-based AT&T, one of the nation's largest telecommunications companies, issued the rosy forecast at its annual conference for analysts and investors in New York.

AT&T Inc. was formed late last year when SBC Communications Inc. bought its former parent, AT&T Corp., and then adopted the better known name.