bizworld: resource bank to switch name to fulton bank as of mid-march.(Business)

VIRGINIA BEACH [bar] Resource Bank said it will adopt the Fulton Bank name when it becomes part of Lancaster, Pa.-based Fulton on March 15.

Virginia Beach-based Resource was acquired by the bank holding company Fulton Financial Corp. four years ago but has remained a separately chartered bank. In September, Fulton Financial disclosed that Resource would be folded into its Fulton Bank subsidiary but that its Virginia Beach subsidiary would be identified as "Resource Bank, a Division of Fulton Bank."

Fulton said the signage at Resource branches will be changed during the week of March 10.

- Tom Shean

nation

wachovia ceo gets stock, no bonus

CHARLOTTE, N.C. [bar] Wachovia Corp. has upped the number of stock options given to Chief Executive Ken Thompson, although the leader of the nation's fourth-largest bank will not receive a cash bonus for his work in 2007.

In a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Charlotte-based bank also said Thompson received no restricted stock grants for his 2007 performance. A year ago, Thompson received a stock grant valued at $6.3 million for 2006.

Of the nearly 1.5 million stock options given for 2007, Thompson received 328,498 options to buy company stock at the price of $33.79; 537,719 options to buy at $41; and 627,339 options to buy at $48. Last year, Wachovia gave Thompson 211,641 stock options for his work in 2006, all with a price of $58.36.

CSx corp. chief's compensation up

Railroad CSX Corp. boosted Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward's total compensation for last year 20 percent as profit rose 2 percent.

Ward's total increased to $16.6 million from $13.8 million for 2006. The compensation package included $1 million in salary, $11.4 million in stock awards and $1.08 million in nonequity incentives, according to a U.S. regulatory filing Thursday by the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company.

starbucks cutting about 600 jobs

SEATTLE [bar] Starbucks Corp. said Thursday it has laid off about 220 support staff who worked at the coffee retailer's headquarters and in field operations and will leave about 380 open jobs unfilled.

Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Schultz announced the 600 job cuts in an e-mail to Starbucks' more than 170,000 employees, calling it a difficult decision aimed at sharpening the company's focus on customers.

choicepoint to be acquired for $3.6B

ATLANTA [bar] Commercial data broker ChoicePoint Inc., a 1997 spinoff of credit agency Equifax, is being acquired by the parent of LexisNexis in a cash deal worth $3.6 billion, a major premium for a company that weathered a breach of its database, federal investigations and a stock-trading inquiry of its top two executives.

The deal combines ChoicePoint's data and analytics assets with LexisNexis' technology, a marriage that will strengthen the combined entity's ability to meet growing demand for their services, especially in the insurance field.

large solar plant planned in Ariz.

PHOENIX [bar] A Spanish company is planning to take 3 square miles of desert southwest of Phoenix and turn them into one of the largest solar power plants in the world.

Abengoa Solar, which has plants in Spain, northern Africa and other parts of the United States, could begin construction as early as next year on the 280-megawatt plant in Gila Bend, 50 miles southeast of Phoenix. The company said Thursday it could be producing solar energy by 2011.

microsoft says it will share

REDMOND, Wash. [bar] Microsoft Corp. said Thursday it will share more information about its products and technology in an effort to make it work better with rivals' software and meet the demands of antitrust regulators in Europe.

European Union regulators, however, expressed skepticism, saying the software maker did not address monopoly abuse in the past or allegations it seeks to undercut rivals by bundling Internet Explorer with the Windows operating system.

Google to store health records

SAN FRANCISCO [bar] Google Inc. will begin storing the medical records of a few thousand people as it tests a long-awaited health service that's likely to raise more concerns about the volume of sensitive information entrusted to the Internet search leader.

The pilot project announced Thursday will involve 1,500 to 10,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic who volunteered to an electronic transfer of their personal health records so they can be retrieved through Google's new service, which won't be open to the general public.