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

Business in brief: Main runway back in service

From Staff And Wire Reports

Spokane International Airport reopened its main runway Tuesday afternoon after months of work that eventually will extend the airstrip by 2,000 feet.

The runway had been closed since May 18, when workers began moving navigational equipment, utility lines, fences and roads, including Electric Avenue. They also poured foundations for approach lighting, installed fiberoptic ductwork, and rough-graded the area where new concrete will be poured next year.

Meanwhile, operations jumped to Runway 725, with no disruption in service, spokesman Todd Woodard said.

The Federal Aviation Administration will inspect the work this week to certify the instrument landing system.

Work will resume next spring, when air traffic will again be diverted to Runway 725 while the extension is poured.

Acme Concrete Paving Inc. has the $30.7 million bid for the project, which should be completed in 2010.

Adobe acquiring Omniture Inc.

San Jose, Calif. – Adobe Systems Inc. said Tuesday it will buy the Web analytic software company Omniture Inc. for about $1.8 billion, giving the maker of content-creation software a way to let marketers measure the effectiveness of such content.

Adobe, which makes Flash, Acrobat and Photoshop software, said it will buy Omniture for $21.50 per share in cash, a premium of 24 percent over Omniture’s closing stock price Tuesday. Omniture shares jumped nearly 26 percent in extended trading.

The announcement came as Adobe said it earned $136 million, or 26 cents per share, in the fiscal third quarter that ended in August, down 29 percent from the same time a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, Adobe earned 35 cents per share, a penny above what analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting. Revenue fell 21 percent to $697.5 million.

Natural gas prices on rise

New York – Natural gas prices that have fallen steadily for a year are bouncing back sharply, up 16 percent since Monday, raising questions about whether prices fell too far.

After jumping as much as 9 percent, natural gas settled 2.3 cents higher at $3.32 per 1,000 cubic feet Tuesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Benchmark crude for October delivery rose $2.07, to settle at $70.93 a barrel.

Oil also moved higher in afternoon trading as the dollar fell to a new yearly low against the euro, stocks moved higher and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the worst recession since the 1930s is probably over.