Boeing beats out Airbus for $4 billion contract

Aerospace giant Boeing was able to fend off a challenge from rival Airbus, winning a multibillion dollar contract to supply AirTran Airways with up to 110 jets.

AirTran announced Tuesday that it would order 50 Boeing 737s with an option to buy 50 more, and said it placed an additional order for 10 Boeing 717s. The entire contract is worth up to $4 billion, an AirTran source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Airbus, which has been making recent inroads in selling jets to discount airlines, had been considered a strong challenger to Boeing, which has supplied AirTran’s new 717s.

Manufacturing

Automakers report optimistic sales outlook

General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group said Tuesday their sales grew in June, while Ford Motor Co.’s volume was off slightly. Yet all the American automakers painted an optimistic picture for the rest of the year.

GM, the world’s largest automaker, saw its light truck sales rise 10 percent, while car sales, excluding its Saab brand, were down 9 percent compared with results recorded in June 2002. GM set an industry record for truck sales for the third consecutive month with 247,577 deliveries, led by strong sport utility vehicle sales. Ford, the world’s No. 2 automaker, saw its sales slip just more than 1 percent despite heavy incentives.

Sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands were off 1.1 percent. Car volume was down 8 percent, while light truck sales — which include vans, pickups and SUVs — rose 2.7 percent.

Report

Wal-Mart continues to top rivals in sales

Wal-Mart continued to dwarf the sales totals of its closest competitors in 2002, according to a list released by Store magazine Tuesday.

Wal-Mart posted sales of $246.5 billion, more than the combined sales of its five closest competitors. Home Depot and Kroger, which owns the Dillons supermarkets, remained in the second and third spots. Target overtook Sears for the fourth spot.

Other stores in the top 10 included Costco at No. 6, Albertson’s at No. 7, Safeway at No. 8, J.C. Penney at No. 9. Bankrupt retailer Kmart checked in at No. 10, falling from the seventh spot.

Lowe’s moved up from No. 14 to No. 12, and Gap checked in at No. 20, after being unranked last year.

Media

Vivendi narrows bidders

French media giant Vivendi Universal winnowed a list of bidders for its U.S. entertainment assets Tuesday, striking tycoon Marvin Davis from the candidates for the coveted film, television and theme park businesses, sources close to the company’s board said.

Vivendi’s board, meeting in Paris, lowered to five the number of bidders still in the running for the Universal film studio, its related theme parks and the USA and Sci-Fi cable networks, the sources said.

Liberty Media Corp., General Electric Co.’s NBC, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. and Viacom Inc., plus an investor group led by tycoon Edgar Bronfman Jr. were the remaining bidders out of the original six, the sources said.