BRIEFLY TV 'LIBERTY'S KIDS' GET LICENSING DEAL.

Byline: - Staff and Wire Services

VAN NUYS - ``Liberty's Kids'' is getting a licensor, as the Cherokee Group signed on Monday to shepherd the PBS series through the marketing process.

Created by Burbank's DIC Entertainment, the animated show will debut next fall, featuring a wide range of vocal talents, from Walter Cronkite as Benjamin Franklin to Liam Neeson as John Paul Jones.

Teeny-pop favorite Aaron Carter has also signed up as Franklin's apprentice and Ben Stiller will portray Thomas Jefferson. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Cherokee will handle all licensing as the show undertakes an extensive marketing blitz next year.

Ailing drkoop.com pulls life support

SANTA MONICA - Troubled Internet company drkoop.com Inc. said Monday that it is closing and will liquidate its assets.

The site, started in Austin, Texas, in 1997 by former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and others, had hoped to find new financing, but the company said Monday that it has run out of money and will declare bankruptcy.

The company said it will ask a court-appointed trustee to sell its assets to satisfy its creditors. Shareholders, who have seen the value of the stock plunge from $45 soon after it went public, to pennies per share before it was delisted earlier this year, will likely not receive anything, the company said.

Tetra Tech wins Capitol contract

PASADENA - Tetra Tech Inc. said Monday that it was awarded a contract to perform in-building communications and security development at the Capitol Hill Complex in Washington, D.C.

The Pasadena-based firm also won contracts for the same type of work at Cleary Gottlieb headquarters, Pfizer headquarters and AOL Time Warner headquarters in New York City.

The total value of the new work is about $10 million.

Work at the Capitol Hill Complex is to be performed on an accelerated schedule, while the projects in New York City are scheduled to last from one to two years.

Pharmaceutical acquisition done

WOODLAND HILLS - Health Sciences Group Inc. of Los Angeles announced on Monday the completion of its acquisition of all outstanding shares of XCEL Healthcare Inc. and its research and development division in exchange for stock in HSG.

XCEL and BioSelect Innovations Inc., both based in Woodland Hills, supply pharmaceutical products and technologies to the life sciences industry.

HSG acquired XCEL and BioSelect for restricted common stock, valued at about $2.5 million. In addition, the company will provide $615,000 in growth capital to XCEL for expansion of its operations and distribution network.

PayPal thinks big in stock offering

PALO ALTO - Online payment provider PayPal Inc. hopes to fetch $12 to $14 per share in an initial public offering of its stock, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Based on a midrange price of $13 per share, the Palo Alto-based company expects to raise $63.3 million by selling 5.4 million shares in the IPO - one of the biggest filed by an Internet company during this year's dot-com downturn. PayPal said it might raise as much as $80.5 million when it first filed its IPO plans in September.

PayPal has emerged one of the Internet's leading payment services by creating a way for people to pay each other through e-mail. The company enables users to create digital cash by authorizing charges on their credit cards or transferring money from bank accounts.

As of Sept. 30, PayPal had 10.6 million accounts.