By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – The big state of Texas is abuzz with biz - good news, bad news and some sad news. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Middays.
40-year-old Andrew Fastow, ex Enron Chief Financial Officer, did in fact surrender this morning to the FBI. The formal wording of the charges hasn't been released yet. But they'll include securities, wire and mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
Moving up the state, Austin-based Dell Computers raised its revenue forecast for the third quarter. Music to anyone's ears. All we've been hearing is warnings, especially in technology. By the way, chairman, CEO and founder Michael Dell was Number One on Fortune Magazine's list of the Wealthiest Americans Under 40. That makes it three years in a row. At the age of 36, he's worth $16.3 billion.
If you haven't placed your name yet on the Statewide and Electric No Call Lists, now's the time do it. For the incredibly low price of just $2.40, you could have dinner in peace, stay home sick without unplugging the phone, and get that smile back in your voice when you say hello. From September 20th to December 31st, the state has cut the sign-up price in half. This is a promotional incentive. As of today, over 700,000 people have signed up. The 972 area code has the highest amount of registrants - 120,000. The rest of the area codes have only one-sixth of that.
And former Fort Worth-based Pier One Chairman Luther Henderson died on Saturday. It was 41 years ago when Mr. Henderson's boyhood friend Charles Tandy bought the California store Cost Plus Imports and renamed it Pier One Imports. Four years later, Henderson and others bought the company from Tandy. Tandy wanted to devote more time to another acquisition, Radio Shack. And thanks to Mr. Henderson's business savvy, Pier One Imports is North America's largest specialty retailer of its kind. For KERA Marketplace Middays, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.