Briefcase

Ambassadors Group buys back shares

Ambassadors Group Inc. Monday repurchased 666,724 of its shares for $7.3 million, or about $11 per share.

The Spokane company, which provides educational travel services, had previously announced the buyback program, which allows for the expenditure of another $6.9 million, said president Jeff Thomas.

There were 18.9 million Ambassador shares outstanding before Monday’s transaction, a negotiated block trade.

“Our repurchase program, combined with our existing dividend policy, is consistent with the company’s commitment to returning real value to our shareholders while staying focused on both continued profitability and fulfilling our core mission,” he said.

Bert Caldwell

Yahoo laying off 4 percent of workers

Yahoo Inc. is trimming 4 percent of its work force, leaving about 600 people out of a job while other companies such as Google Inc. are handing out holiday bonuses to their employees.

This marks Yahoo’s fourth mass layoff in the past three years.

Yahoo wants to boost its operating profit margin and its stock price. Cost cutting hasn’t helped much so far. Yahoo shares closed Tuesday at $16.63, slightly below their value at the end of September 2008 when the company’s payroll peaked at 15,200. Yahoo employed 14,100 people before the latest layoffs.

Associated Press

Top Costco exec gets $3.5 million for year

PORTLAND – Costco Wholesale Corp. president and CEO James Sinegal saw his compensation rise 29 percent to $3.5 million for the company’s 2010 fiscal year, according to a company filing.

The warehouse club chain kept Sinegal’s salary steady at $350,000 but rewarded him for the company’s improved performance by more than doubling his bonus to $190,400, according to documents filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sinegal received restricted stock and options with an estimated value of nearly $2.9 million plus $93,004 in other perks such as insurance premiums and a car allowance.

Associated Press

Sex tablet seller’s sentence tossed

CINCINNATI – A federal court on Tuesday threw out the 25-year prison sentence handed down to the founder of an Ohio company that sold male sexual enhancement tablets and other herbal supplements.

The three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions and forfeiture orders against Steven Warshak but faulted the trial court for not fully explaining how it arrived at the amount of financial loss it used to calculate his sentence.

Warshak, the founder of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals Inc., was convicted in 2008 on 93 counts of conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

Berkeley distributed the sexual enhancement product Enzyte. Television ads for Enzyte featured “Smiling Bob,” whose life improves after using it.

Federal prosecutors accused the company of bilking customers out of more than $400 million with deceptive ads, manipulating credit card transactions and refusing to accept returns or cancel orders.

Associated Press