Business in brief: Airplanes with lighter loads left Spokane in August

Fewer passengers and less freight left Spokane airports in July.

At Spokane International Airport, 149,993 passengers boarded, off 13 percent compared with July 2008. Boardings since Jan. 1 declined almost 15 percent, to 1.8 million.

The 4,194 tons of freight shipped in July was down 10.4 percent compared with July 2008. For the first seven months of the year, tonnage, at 26,450, is off 15.4 percent from 2008.

Felts Field operations declined 6.8 percent to 6,406, while freight fell 48.6 percent to 2.4 tons.

EBay sells majority stake in Skype to private investors

San Francisco – Auction giant eBay announced Tuesday that it is selling the majority of its stake in Internet phone service Skype to private investors, unwinding a troubled acquisition that never meshed well with the online retailer’s operations.

Under the deal, a group of investment funds led by high-tech private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners agreed to pay eBay $1.9 billion in cash and lend $125 million for 65 percent of Skype, a popular service that allows free or low-priced calls internationally over an Internet connection. Other investors include Index Ventures, venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz launched by Netscape founder Marc Andreessen, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

EBay, which has been looking for a way to part with Skype for months, said the sale helps unwind a pairing of companies that have different business lines and never were able to effectively leverage their technologies off each other.

It said earlier this year that if it didn’t find a buyer, it would spin off the company in an initial public offering in 2010.

European joblessness climbs to 9.5. percent in 16 countries

Brussels, Belgium – The jobless rate in the 16 nations that use the euro climbed to a new 10-year high of 9.5 percent in July despite other signs that the economy is starting to recover, the EU statistics agency Eurostat said Tuesday.

Rising unemployment amid continuing price falls – inflation ran negative for the third straight month in July, although price declines were smaller – is likely to leave the European Central Bank holding its key interest rate steady at 1 percent at its meeting Thursday.

The unemployment rate rose from 9.4 percent in June, with 167,000 more people seeking work in July.

Coca-Cola buys stake in coconut water maker

Atlanta – Soft drink giant Coca-Cola Co. has taken a minority stake in a coconut water company, continuing its move into juices and teas as consumers spurn soft drinks for health and cost reasons.

The Atlanta-based maker of Coke and Sprite and ZICO Beverages LLC announced the investment on Tuesday. Coca-Cola declined to say how much its investment was worth, other than to say it was a stake of less than 20 percent in the company.

The move means another major drink maker is eyeing coconut water as it looks to boost sales. Last month PepsiCo Inc. announced it was buying Brazil’s biggest coconut water company, Amacoco Nordeste Ltda and Amacoco Sudeste Ltds.

Sales of soft drinks have been falling in recent years as consumers seek out healthier juices and teas and limit their purchases to save money.

Coconut water – the fat-free, potassium-rich liquid inside young, green coconuts – is popular in other countries and just starting to catch on in the states.