BRIEFCASE.

Byline: - Staff and wire Services

Yahoo CEO Semel in great demand

SAN FRANCISCO - For Yahoo Inc. chief executive Terry Semel, it pays to be wanted.

Semel took advantage of a rebound in technology stock prices and sold 10 million shares of Yahoo worth $230 million last year, making his annual haul one of the largest ever for a corporate executive. He still holds $324 million worth of stock he can sell any time and another $71 million of restricted shares.

Meanwhile, the company said in a regulatory filing that it made Semel's pay package even better because he has become an ``attractive candidate to competing organizations.'' The company said it ``took aggressive action in 2004 to retain Mr. Semel.''

State's vintners sold $15 billion

BERKELEY - Americans bought more wine last year, good news for California vintners who shipped an estimated $15 billion worth of wine to the domestic market last year.

Last year also turned out to be a very good year for reds. They edged out white wines by volume for the first time in at least two decades in supermarkets.

Overall, California wineries shipped 428 million gallons of wine to U.S. markets in 2004, a 3 percent increase from 2003, according to the Gomberg-Fredrikson report compiled by wine analyst Jon Fredrikson. The San Francisco-based Wine Institute, which released the figures Tuesday, estimated retail value of the shipments at $15 billion.

Experts attributed the trend to a number of factors including a recovering economy, increased wine consumption and good reviews for California vintages.

Pfizer proposes to save $4 billion

NEW YORK - Pfizer Inc. on Tuesday said its earnings will fall 6 percent this year as the company, which has been struggling with patent expirations and drug safety concerns, announced a cost-cutting plan aimed at saving $4 billion by 2008.

Pfizer said the program would help return the company to double-digit earnings growth in 2006 and 2007, and Wall Street responded by driving the company's shares 4 percent higher.

Details of the plan were sketchy, but will include staff reductions, changes to purchasing arrangements, and possibly more plant closings. Further acquisitions are likely to add new technologies, too, the company said.

Cablevision offers bid for Adelphia

Cablevision Systems turned the bidding for Adelphia Communications into a heated battle Tuesday by offering $16.5 billion in cash for the company, executives involved in the process said.

Cablevision made its offer alone, without the participation of two private equity firms that it had been in talks with to form a bidding group, the executives said. Still, Cablevision continues to discuss the possibility of making a joint bid with the firms, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Providence Equity Partners, the executives added.

Cablevision's surprise decision to pursue Adelphia by itself, at least for now, pits it against its rival, Time Warner, which has submitted a more complicated bid in conjunction with Comcast worth $17.6 billion in cash and warrants for stock in a company that would be created by combining Time Warner's cable business and Adelphia.

$500,000 to aid hospital upgrades

VAN NUYS - Valley Presbyterian Hospital will upgrade its emergency department and children's center, with $500,000 in grants, the medical center announced Tuesday

The Ahmanson Foundation and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation will give $250,000 apiece to add a new central cardiac monitoring system, improve the patient registration area and install a new infant security system, as well as various cosmetic enhancements.

Work will begin in mid-June with construction set to conclude by fall.