Promotion pays customer $1,300

Shopping at Hy-Vee paid off for Lawrence resident Ed Gaddis.

Gaddis won $1,300 in the store’s Mega Brands for Grands promotion.

Officials from Hy-Vee, 4000 W. Sixth St., surprised Gaddis at his home Tuesday afternoon. They gave him 10 minutes to find as many Hy-Vee store brand items in his home as he could. Every item was worth $100.

Gaddis said he registered for the promotion but didn’t expect anything to come of it. “I wish I would have known about this,” he joked. “I would have stocked up.”

Aviation

Leasing companies order Boeing jets

Boeing Co. is selling about $4 billion worth of new jets to two companies that lease planes to airlines, according to agreements announced Tuesday.

GE Commercial Aviation Services, a unit of General Electric Corp., said Tuesday it has agreed to buy 20 737 aircraft from Boeing Co., worth $1.1 billion at list prices. It also identified itself as the buyer for 12 Boeing 737s ordered last year that were attributed to an unidentified customer.

Separately, Chicago-based Boeing announced that International Lease Finance Corp. has placed a firm order for 20 737-700s/800s, six 777-300 Extended Range planes and two 777-200 Extended Range aircraft, together valued at nearly $2.9 billion at list prices.

Media

Viacom OKs split

Viacom Inc., the media conglomerate that owns CBS and MTV, said Tuesday that its board had unanimously approved a plan to split the company into two separate entities, one focusing on broadcast television and the other on cable networks.

Viacom said the split will occur in the first quarter of 2006. Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone will be chairman and controlling shareholder of the companies.

The separation will be made through a tax-free spinoff, meaning that holders of Viacom shares will receive shares of a new company called CBS Corp., which will include the CBS and UPN networks, a group of TV stations as well as a major radio and outdoor advertising group.

Retail

Best Buy profits up 85 percent

First-quarter profits at Best Buy Co. Inc. leaped 85 percent, far ahead of analyst expectations, and the nation’s largest consumer electronics retailer raised its guidance for the entire year.

Best Buy’s shares rose $8.68 to close at $67.80 in Tuesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said Tuesday that sales of high-end TVs rose at double-digit percentage rates, and sales of digital music players more than doubled from the same quarter last year.