Gas prices reach $4 per gallon in state

BELLEVUE – The AAA auto club reports the average price of a gallon of gasoline in Washington is $4, heading into Memorial Day weekend.

That’s up 2 cents in a week and 34 cents in a month. It’s 35 cents higher than the national average and 24 cents higher than Washington’s gasoline price a year ago. Spokane’s average price is $3.80.

All Nippon Airways ready to relaunch 787s

TOKYO – Japan’s All Nippon Airways, the launch customer for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, will resume commercial flights of the aircraft on Sunday, just over four months after the jets were grounded due to smoldering batteries.

ANA said in a statement that it will run five commercial 787 flights in May, before scheduled services begin June 1. The first will be a commercial flight late Sunday from Chitose, on the northern island of Hokkaido, to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Smoldering batteries on two 787s, one of them owned by ANA, prompted authorities to ground the planes in January.

Hulu again for sale; rumored price $500M

LOS ANGELES – A person with direct knowledge of Hulu says the video site is again up for sale, with Yahoo and pay TV operators DirecTV and Time Warner Cable among the seven bidders.

The person wasn’t allowed to speak publicly and did so Friday after several news outlets reported on the bids.

The person didn’t offer details on the prices offered. Published reports have pegged a bid by a group led by former News Corp. executive Peter Chernin at $500 million.

Walt Disney Co. and News Corp. control Hulu. Comcast Corp. is a silent investor.

Schumer urges ‘caution’ in Sprint-Softbank deal

NEW YORK – Sen. Charles Schumer is urging regulators to “use extreme caution” when reviewing the proposed acquisition of No. 3 cell carrier Sprint Nextel by Japan’s Softbank. The Japanese company uses Chinese networking equipment, which Schumer says could open up U.S. networks to hacking.

The New York Democrat sent letters to the Treasury Department and Federal Communications Commission, both of which are reviewing Softbank’s offer to buy 70 percent of Sprint for $20.1 billion. Satellite TV broadcaster Dish Network has a competing $25.5 billion offer.

Softbank said it will remove the Chinese-made equipment from Sprint affiliate Clearwire Corp. It hopes to close on the deal July 1.

Directors approve split of News Corp., Fox

NEW YORK – News Corp. says its board of directors has approved plans to split its entertainment and publishing businesses into two companies.

News Corp. also said Friday that the target date for the split is June 28. The company holding its TV and movie properties will be 21st Century Fox. The new News Corp., a smaller entity, will be focused on newspapers and publishing. Both will be publicly traded.

Rupert Murdoch will be chairman of both companies and CEO of Fox.