BRIEFCASE.

Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Vitesse fires 3 top executives

CAMARILLO -- Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. said Wednesday it fired three top executives the chip maker had suspended in April amid questions over how it awarded stock options and other accounting irregularities.

Vitesse shares slid 37 cents, or 20 percent, to $1.48 at the end of regular trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The company said earlier this week that its stock may be delisted from the Nasdaq for failing to file its quarterly report on time.

Vitesse said it terminated Louis R. Tomasetta, chief executive officer; Yatin Mody, chief financial officer; and Eugene F. Hovanec, executive vice president.

The company named Christopher R. Gardner as CEO and Shawn C.A. Hassel as CFO. Gardner and Hassel had served as acting CEO and CFO, respectively.

Vitesse also said it has expanded an internal probe into past stock option grants to include a review of accounting practices that may have affected its cash position at the end of certain reporting periods.

The company also said it was in talks with a lender over its credit facility, whose permitted borrowing levels the bank claims Vitesse has exceeded. Vitesse said it has reached a tentative agreement that should allow it to continue to obtain more financing.

Vitesse said it has hired an investment bank to help it obtain more financing. It also said not obtaining more financing or further action from the bank regarding its credit facility would have a ``material adverse effect'' on its business.

IHOP's Stewart board chairman

GLENDALE -- Julia A. Stewart added another title to her business card on Wednesday, as IHOP Corp. named her chairman of the board. For the past four years, she's served as president and chief executive officer of the pancake chain and will now take the place of Larry Alan Kay, whose term expired. Kay, a 19-year member of the board, will remain lead director.

Yahoo Web site receives face-lift

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo Inc.'s Web site unveiled a new look Tuesday as the Internet powerhouse strives to remain the world's most popular online destination and strengthen its advertising appeal.

The overhaul marks the first face-lift to Yahoo's home page since September 2004. The redesigned page includes more interactive features that reduce the need to click through to other pages to review the weather, check e-mail, listen to music or monitor local traffic conditions.

Another addition, called ``Yahoo Pulse,'' offers recommendations and insights about cultural trends culled from the Web site's 402 million users worldwide.

Yahoo is making the upgrade as it battles for traffic with longtime rivals MSN, AOL and Google Inc. while also trying to fend off an intensifying threat posed by the rise of social networking sites such as MySpace.com.

Southwest may assign seating

DALLAS -- The days of first-come, first-served seating on Southwest Airlines Co. planes could be nearing an end.

The airline is overhauling its computerized-reservation system to add the ability to assign seats and make international flights.

Officials say neither change is for sure. The earliest Southwest could switch to assigned seating, used by every other major U.S. carrier, is 2008, Chief Executive Gary Kelly said Wednesday. The system won't be able to handle the tax and customs information required for international travel until the following year, he said.

Honda to build plant in Midwest

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will build a $400 million, 1,500-worker plant in the Midwest as part of a $1.18 billion global expansion planned by the profit-rich Japanese automaker to meet soaring demand for its cars.

Honda officials would not say which states are under consideration for the plant, which will be built by 2008, or when a decision will be made, other than the company is in the final stages of securing a site.

Ohio and Indiana officials have said they are in the running for the plant.

``We'd like to have it sooner rather than later,'' Larry Jutte, a senior Honda vice president, said during a conference call with reporters. ``We're in the final phases of our due-diligence process for selection.''

Jutte said no decision has been made on what kind of vehicles the plant will produce.

The new auto plant -- Honda's sixth in North America -- would boost the company's North American production capacity from 1.4 million to 1.6 million vehicles a year.

SEC won't spare small companies

WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that it has decided not to exempt smaller public companies from a key requirement of a 2002 anti-fraud law, resisting entreaties from business interests that have been complaining about the costs of compliance.

In a statement, the SEC said it will take a series of actions meant to improve the way the law works, ``although ultimately all public companies will be required to comply.''