More than 10,000 engineers and technical workers walked off the job at Boeing in Seattle Wednesday, demanding better pay and benefits in the first full-fledged, white-collar strike against the aerospace giant.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace claimed that 95 percent of its members honored the strike. About 7,000 of them packed into a high school football stadium, where they held a raucous rally before marching off to the picket line.
Boeing management said that between 15 and 20 percent of SPEEA workers remained on the job. The company said it was unclear whether the walkout would affect aircraft production at its major assembly plants in Renton and Everett, Washington.
The union, which represents 22,500 workers, and the company have been at odds over a new contract for some time.
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Game over: Vodafone AirTouch declared its $180 billion bid for Mannesmann AG unconditional on Thursday, sealing the world's biggest takeover.
Vodafone said that it had secured 60.3 percent of the German company's share capital since last week's agreement by Mannesmann to accept its record-breaking bid.
The London Stock Exchange expects the announcement to trigger an avalanche of last-minute trade in Vodafone, as tracker funds increase their stake in the company to reflect its increased capitalization.
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Sold, to CMGI: Internet conglomerate CMGI has agreed to acquire uBid.com Inc., an online auction site, in a stock-for-stock merger valued at around $407 million.
Under terms of the agreement, CMGI will issue 0.2628 shares for every share of uBid held on the closing date of the transaction. Based on CMGI's Wednesday closing price of $120.50, the merger agreement values uBid shares at $31.6674 each.
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Still flying: An investor group led by cellular telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw agreed to provide $75 million to keep Iridium LLC aloft until 15 June, giving McCaw time to work out a restructuring plan.
Iridium, the first global satellite phone system, filed for bankruptcy in August after its commercial launch failed to generate the revenue or customer base that had been anticipated.
Reuters contributed to this report.
