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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Company News: Best Buy to acquire broadband provider

From Wire Reports The Spokesman-Review

Electronics retailer Best Buy got into the Internet phone business on Tuesday.

The nation’s largest standalone seller of electronics paid $97 million to buy a Seattle-based company called Speakeasy, which provides Internet and Internet-based phone services to small businesses nationwide.

Phone calls that move over the Internet instead of traditional phone lines have been increasingly popular with businesses.

“The core reason we bought these folks is for voice-over-Internet solutions, specifically targeted to small business customers,” said David Hemler, who runs the Best Buy for Business division.

Best Buy said it would continue to run Speakeasy as a subsidiary, and it will keep its current managers. Speakeasy employs about 300 people and has more than 40,000 customers, Best Buy said. Speakeasy had $80 million in revenue last year and is “just turning the corner on profitability,” Hemler said.

Best Buy said the deal is expected to close during the quarter that ends in May.

“A new version of Adobe Systems Inc.’s Creative Suite software will go on sale next month, a launch that executives have billed as the most significant in the company’s 25-year history.

The software suite — which includes well-known programs like Photoshop for photo editing and Dreamweaver for Web design — is popular with videographers, graphic designers and artists in print, Web, mobile and film media.

Creative Suite 3 includes features to further integrate multimedia into Web sites and cell phones — a key strategy as Adobe tries to expand from its core base of artists and designers. Already, its Flash player software is used to display videos on Google Inc.’s YouTube, News Corp.’s MySpace and other sites.

Adobe will offer six versions of the full suite, with suggested retail prices from $1,599 to $2,499.

British Airways ordered four Boeing 777-200ER jetliners and secured options for four more of the two-aisle passenger craft, the manufacturer said Tuesday.

The four firm orders are worth more than $800 million at list prices, though customers often negotiate hefty discounts.

London-based British Airways already operates 43 Boeing 777s, and said it will use the new planes to expand its long-haul fleet.

Since the plane entered service in 1995, Boeing Co. has received more than 900 orders for the 777.