MCI may become target of telecom bidding battle

Leucadia National Corp., a holding company, said it would seek antitrust clearance to buy more than 50 percent of the stock in MCI Inc., the nation’s No. 2 long-distance carrier.

New York-based Leucadia notified MCI that it intended to make a filing with the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to purchase the majority stake, MCI said in a brief news release.

Analysts said the disclosure would likely open up MCI, formerly known as WorldCom, to other potential bidders. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Overland Park-based Sprint Corp., SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth had done preliminary evaluations of buying MCI.

Aviation

Fate of Boeing tankers to be decided in spring

U.S. aerospace group Boeing expects the Pentagon to make a final decision in March or April whether to approve a controversial deal to buy 100 tanker jets, the company’s chief executive said on Monday.

“There’s a real need for these aircraft and the Air Force really wants them,” CEO Harry Stonecipher told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in comments to be published in today’s edition.

Should the deal, worth more than $20 billion, be delayed any further, Boeing would be forced to cease production of the 767 jet the tanker is based on, according to the CEO.

Much of the work to convert the tankers would be done at the company’s Wichita plant.

Internet

Google taps Nasdaq

Google Inc. plans to list on the Nasdaq Stock Market for its impending initial public stock offering, according to a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The $2.7 billion offering for the online search engine promises to make the biggest IPO splash yet in the post-dot-com era and is expected to give the Mountain View, Calif.-based company a market value of at least $20 billion.

Thirty brokerage houses have teamed up to facilitate the online public auction that Google plans to use to set its offering price.

Google officials did not specify a date for its IPO or a ticker symbol in the SEC filing.

Wall Street

Tech sector takes hit

An analyst downgrade of the semiconductor sector sent technology shares lower Monday, but the overall stock market ended mixed as large-caps benefited from a late-day rally.

Merrill Lynch cut its rating on the entire sector from “overweight” to “underweight,” citing lower-than-expected demand for both personal computers and corporate hardware. The firm also downgraded Intel Corp. a day before it was due to release its earnings.

Credit

Visa launches campaign

Visa USA’s new hook for high spenders: Free limousine rides. As part of a marketing blitz that began Monday, Visa sent 50 limousines to bustling Chicago O’Hare International Airport to give relatively well-heeled holders of its Signature card free lifts into town.

It’s also planning a barrage of print, radio and television ads to add some panache to its 6-year-old Signature card and help it compete with American Express Co., which has long cultivated a clientele of big spenders.

The aggressive marketing campaign is geared toward a group Visa calls the “new affluent,” those with at least $125,000 in household income.