FTC subpoenas Intel records

Escalating the world’s largest computer chip maker’s legal woes, the Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal probe into Intel Corp.’s sales tactics. The move is a victory for its much smaller rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

Intel disclosed Friday that it has received a subpoena from the FTC for records about Intel’s microprocessor sales, which dominate the world market with a roughly 80 percent share. The FTC’s two-year investigation had been considered “informal” until that point.

SAN FRANCISCO

Investor suggests Yahoo sales price

Hoping to negotiate a compromise, activist investor Carl Icahn urged Yahoo Inc. to declare it is willing to accept a takeover offer of $49.5 billion – about $2 billion above Microsoft Corp.’s last bid for the Internet pioneer.

Icahn recommended the price tag, which works out to $34.375 a share, in a letter he sent Friday to Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock.

It marks the first time that Icahn has publicly indicated what price he has in mind as he tries to force Yahoo’s sale to Microsoft before the Sunnyvale-based company’s annual meeting on Aug. 1. If a deal isn’t done before August, Icahn will try to replace Yahoo’s board with a slate of his own directors and fire company co-founder Jerry Yang as chief executive.

TO OUR READERS

Changes coming in Business

.TXT, our weekly report on life online, will appear in the Sunday Business section starting tomorrow.

.TXT coverage, which is moving from the Monday paper, will appear on the front of the Sunday section and on the back page. The column by Better Business Bureau President Jan Quintrall that appears every two weeks, and the weekly Motley Fool column, will appear inside the Sunday section.

Questions or feedback? Call editor Scott Maben at (509) 459-5528 or scottm@ spokesman.com.