Short Reports

Microsoft Corp. has relinquished efforts to share control of Telewest Communications PLC, the leading provider of high-speed Internet links over cable television systems in Britain, and will instead take only a minority stake in the company, European antitrust authorities said Friday.

Michael Ovitz and the film production arm of Europe’s Canal Plus have signed a $900 million deal that has the talent manager producing 15 films for the international market over the next three years.

A federal appeals court in Washington ruled Friday that Detroit’s daily newspapers did not commit unfair labor practices leading to the 19-month strike that began in 1995. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a 1998 National Labor Relations Board finding against the newspapers. A finding that the strike resulted from unfair labor practices could have required The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press and their joint business agency, Detroit Newspapers Inc., to pay millions in wages and benefits to striking workers retroactive to the day in 1997 when they agreed to return to work.

The Boeing Co. may be six to nine months away from a final decision on whether to launch a larger version of the venerable 747 jumbo jet, company executives said Friday. The aerospace manufacturer, facing new competition from the recently announced A3XX double-decker superjumbo jet by Europe’s Airbus Industrie, has been getting good feedback on a bigger version of the 747 from potential customers.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified people familiar with the plan, said Merrill Lynch & Co. is considering eliminating as many as 2,000 jobs from its flagship brokerage division in a cost-cutting measure. The move could save the firm as much as $150 million a year, according to the newspaper.

Members of the International Union of Electronic Workers voted to accept a tentative contract agreed to last month with General Electric Co., bringing better wages and pension increases for workers who retire under the new pact. The deal covers 20,000 workers.