Landry’s Restaurants adds casino to menu

Landry’s Restaurants Inc., whose operations include Rainforest Cafe and The Crab House, is buying the Golden Nugget hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas, a first step in a strategy to get a slice of the lucrative gambling business and expand its profit pipeline.

Landry’s shares surged more than 12 percent on the news.

Houston-based Landry’s announced Friday that it had agreed to buy the Nugget from Poster Financial Group Inc. for $140 million in cash and an agreement to assume $155 million in debt.

The Golden Nugget Las Vegas is considered the jewel of a faded downtown with 1,907 hotel rooms and 2,800 employees.

Finance

Cap Fed profits rise

Capitol Federal Financial said its profits during the fourth quarter rose on favorable interest rates.

Topeka-based Cap Fed, which has banks in Lawrence, said it had net income of $18.6 million, or 25 cents per diluted share, during the quarter ended Dec. 31. That was up from net income of $4.6 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, during the fourth quarter of 2003.

Cap Fed said much of the profit increase could be attributed to the bank having to pay less on Federal Home Loan Bank advances.

Cap Fed shares rose 31 cents Friday to close at $35.41 on the Nasdaq National Market.

Internet

Software engineer guilty of spam sales

A 24-year-old former American Online software engineer pleaded guilty Friday to stealing 92 million screen names and e-mail addresses and selling them to spammers, setting off an avalanche of up to seven billion unsolicited e-mails.

The soft-spoken Jason Smathers, of Harpers Ferry, W. Va., entered the plea to conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where he was likely to face from 18 months to two years in prison at a May 20 sentencing.

Smathers also faces mandatory restitution of between $200,000 and $400,000, the amount the government estimates AOL spent as a result of the e-mails.

Media

Time Warner earnings up with TV, publishing

Time Warner Inc., the world’s largest media company, reported Friday that its earnings nearly doubled in the fourth quarter without the losses from its former music division in the year-ago period and on higher results from cable TV, publishing and other businesses.

Time Warner posted net earnings of $1.13 billion, or 24 cents per share, compared with $639 million, or 14 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.