BUSINESSBUSINESSBUSINESS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009 • PAGE A10Editor: Norma Coile / 520-573-4663 / business@azstarnet.com

TUCSON

Grupo wants new bidfor Asarco barred

Sterlite Industries Ltd. ofIndia shouldn’t be allowed to in-crease its bid for Tucson-basedAsarco LLC, lawyers for GrupoMexico SAB said Tuesday in acourt hearing, Bloomberg Newsreported.

U.S. Bankruptcy JudgeRichard Schmidt in CorpusChristi, Texas, recommendedlast month that Grupo Mexico beallowed to regain control of Asar-co by paying creditors in full.

Sterlite raised its offer and onTuesday asked Schmidt to allowits new bid to be considered by adistrict court that will make thefinal decision about which com-pany wins Asarco. Both compa-nies have until Monday to sub-mit arguments on the issue.

The final decision about whogets Asarco will be made by U.S.District Judge Andrew Hanen inBrownsville, Texas. He has saidthat he hopes to rule by the endof November.

Grupo Mexico and Sterlitewould both spend more than$2.5 billion to fully repay credi-tors, but Grupo Mexico wouldavoid paying a judgment by Ha-nen awarding to Asarco its stakein Southern Copper Corp.,worth as much as $8 billion, ac-

cording to court records.

Ex-KGUN news chiefnow back in same job

Former KGUN News DirectorForrest Carr is back at Tucson’sABC affiliate in the same capaci-ty after a hitch in Albuquerque asnews director for KRQE-TV.

Carr left KGUN in March 2001to be news director at WFLA-TVin Tampa and then WFTX-TV inFort Myers, Fla., before going toAlbuquerque.

Don’t expect big changes,Carr said. KGUN was one of theearly converts to the “On YourSide” viewer-advocate slogannow used by many TV stationsnationwide, Carr said, notingthat KGUN adopted that themeduring his first run in Tucson.

Oro Valley Marketplacegets ‘green’ recognition

Vestar Development Co.’sOro Valley Marketplace hasearned the first silver LEED cer-tification among Arizona retailprojects from the U.S. GreenBuilding Council.

The retail shopping center, atTangerine and Oracle roads,opened in 2008.

LEED, for Leadership in Ener-gy and Environmental Design, isa benchmark for the design,construction and operation ofhigh-efficiency buildings.

Send News & Notes notices tobusiness@azstarnet.com or by fax to 573-4144.

NEWS &

NOTES

Raytheon resumes Excalibur deliveriesBy Tony CapaccioBLOOMBERG NEWS

Raytheon Missile Systems resumeddeliveries last month of the Army’smost accurate artillery shell, enhanc-ing the U.S. effort to minimize civiliancasualties and accidental militarydeaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The satellite-guided Excaliburshells were first deployed to the warzones in 2007 and demonstrated aprecision within 20 feet of their tar-get. Two were fired in a successfulJuly 2007 attack against an al-Qaedaleader who was killed, the Armysaid.

Deliveries were halted in November2008 after further testing uncovered“unacceptably high” accuracy prob-lems stemming from a navigation unitthat’s now been replaced.

Deliveries resumed on Aug. 21, andRaytheon will receive a payment of$72.4 million that had been withheld.The shells cost $46,500 apiece, and

the Army plans to buy more than30,000 at a cost of at least $1.395 bil-lion. Including research and develop-ment, the program’s projected cost is$2.2 billion.

Protecting Afghan civilians is es-sential to the success of the coun-terinsurgency strategy in

Temporary-tattoo firm thrivesBy Shelby Hill

FOR THE ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Temporary tattoos are removable, butone Tucson business that makes them isproving it has staying power.

Tattoo Manufacturing International, amultimillion-dollar business at 3761 E.Technical Drive, has been producing tem-porary tattoos since 1989, but in recentyears the business has grown steadily, saidStephen L. Tooker, CEO and part owner.

“We’ve been growing just because tat-toos are so mainstream now,” Tooker, 49,said. “I mean, find a professional athlete ora movie star or a musician that doesn’thave a tattoo. It’s just so mainstream, andwe’ve been riding that wave.”

The company manufactures a “limit-less” range of custom temporary tattoosfor events ranging from 50th birthday par-ties to promotional items for companiessuch as Subway, Tooker said.

It also makes temporary tattoos for salein retail stores including Walmart, Claire’sand Sally Beauty Supply.

One of its most popular lines of tempo-rary tattoos is called Snuggle Buddies Tat-toos, which feature adorable animals frompenguins to puppies with wide eyes andsmiles, Tooker said.

Not all the tattoos are as sweet, however.One line, called Gross Out Tattoos, in-cludes fake scratches, warts and scars.

All the tattoos are designed, manufac-tured and shipped from Tucson.

Although its products are made in theUnited States, one-third of TMI’s businessis outside of the country. One package of

custom temporary tattoos awaiting ship-ping was bound for Australia, for example.

TMI manufactures 6 million temporarytattoos daily on two unique tattoo-print-ing machines, Tooker said.

The process for each temporary tattoo

Pulte acts vs. ‘sabotage’tied to Tucsonan’s firing

By Ed WhiteTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT — Pulte HomesInc., the largest U.S. homebuilder, said Tuesday that itsphones and e-mail accountshad been jammed since a laborunion urged people to protestthe firing of a Tucson employee.

Pulte, based in BloomfieldHills, Mich., filed a lawsuit andasked a federal judge to orderthe Laborers’ InternationalUnion of North America to stopthe campaign and take down a

Web site criticizing the compa-ny. Pulte said it’s a victim of“sabotage.”

Union activists “have inter-rupted Pulte’s ability to con-duct day-to-day business,threatened its employees andinterfered with its relation-ships with the public, its cus-tomers, potential customersand vendors,” lawyer JohnBirmingham Jr. said in a courtfiling.

The union, based in Wash-ington, issued a prepared state-

ment that said the allegationsare false.

The lawsuit says a Tucsoncrew leader who worked forPulte Building Systems, Rober-to Baltierra, was fired Sept. 4for misconduct, including“disregarding company safetyrules” — not for wearing aunion T-shirt or for taking partin union activities.

The union doesn’t representPulte employees.

Baltierra could not bereached for comment; a Tuc-

son phone number under thatname has been disconnected.The union does not have a Tuc-son office.

The union’s Web site saysseven workers were fired anddenied pay while wearing or-ange union shirts. It has filed acomplaint with the NationalLabor Relations Board.

Pulte’s lawsuit, however,said it terminated only Baltier-ra, not others.

MAMTA POPAT / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Victor Meza, press manager at Tattoo Manufacturing International, pours a non-toxic adhesive on the back of a strip of temporary tat-toos. The company, started in Tucson in 1989, manufactures and sells temporary tattoos, which are sold all over the world.

DID YOU KNOWTucson-based Raytheon Missile Sys-

tems is Southern Arizona’s largest em-ployer, with more than 11,500 full-time-equivalent employees at the end of2008, according to the Star 200 sur-vey of major employers.

Honeywell Aerospace ranked 61st inthe Star 200, with 754 employees at itsfacility at 11100 N. Oracle Road, on apatch of Pima County land within OroValley.

U.S. ARMY

Artillerymen ready an Excalibur shell, designed to curbaccidental deaths and civilian casualties. See RAYTHEON, A11

See PULTE, A11

At TMI, the production of temporary tattoos is mechanized to handle the huge produc-tion and meet the growing demand.

See TATTOOS, A11

Better news on retail sales and manufacturing helped send stocks higherTuesday, as did Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comment that therecession probably is over. Surging materials and industrial companies suchas Alcoa and Caterpillar pulled the Dow Jones industrial average to a gain of 57points, its seventh climb in eight days and another high for the year.

MARKET ROUNDUP

800

880

960

1,040

1,120

J J A S O N

1,080

1,100

1,120 S&P 500Close: 1,099.92Change: -9.32 (-0.8%)

10 DAYS

s DOW30 9,713.71 9,580.93 +56.61 9,683.41s NASDAQ 2,106.93 2,086.16 +10.86 2,102.64s S&P 500 1,056.04 1,043.42 +3.29 1,052.63s Russell 2000 605.60 597.45 +4.81 604.84

YTD VOL 52-WEEKNAME TICKER CLOSE CHG %CHG %CHG YLD (Thous) HI LO

LOCAL AND WIDELY HELD STOCKS

AMR AMR 7.41 +.47 +6.8 -30.6 ... 17328 13.33 2.40AT&T Inc T 26.70 +.17 +0.6 -6.3 6.1 18904 31.18 20.90Alcoa AA 13.99 +1.05 +8.1 +24.2 .9 48869 28.33 4.97BE Aero BEAV 19.22 -.05 -0.3 +149.9 ... 725 24.70 5.37BkofAm BAC 16.79 -.20 -1.2 +19.2 .2 153123 39.50 2.53BerkH B BRK/B 3,300 +43 +1.3 +2.7 ... 40 4,700 2,241Citigrp C 4.12 -.40 -8.8 -38.6 ... 1264474 23.50 0.97Cnvrgys CVG 11.02 +.07 +0.6 +71.9 ... 982 16.99 4.02CorrectnCp CXW 22.60 +.05 +0.2 +38.1 ... 341 27.30 9.50Costco COST 56.82 -.17 -0.3 +8.2 1.3 3247 71.00 38.17ExxonMbl XOM 69.49 -.51 -0.7 -13.0 2.4 19041 83.64 56.51FMCG FCX 71.32 +.70 +1.0 +191.8 ... 12819 77.34 15.70GenDynam GD 63.13 +.03 ... +9.6 2.4 1513 86.38 35.28GenElec GE 16.00 +.65 +4.2 -1.2 2.5 205939 29.20 5.73GraniteC GVA 33.44 +.54 +1.6 -23.9 1.6 329 50.00 21.20HomeDp HD 27.41 -.10 -0.4 +19.1 3.3 9902 29.70 17.05HonwllIntl HON 39.79 -.18 -0.5 +21.2 3.0 5197 46.99 23.06Intel INTC 19.55 +.19 +1.0 +33.4 2.9 47016 20.65 12.05IBM IBM 119.35 +.47 +0.4 +41.8 1.8 6448 124.00 69.50Intuit INTU 27.78 -.08 -0.3 +16.8 ... 2494 32.00 20.18JPMorgCh JPM 43.19 -.56 -1.3 +38.7 .5 49316 50.63 14.96JohnJn JNJ 60.15 -.19 -0.3 +0.5 3.3 8133 72.69 46.25Kroger KR 20.46 -1.65 -7.5 -22.5 1.8 43212 29.59 19.39Loews L 34.38 +.21 +0.6 +21.7 .7 1768 49.32 17.40Lowes LOW 21.21 -.15 -0.7 -1.4 1.7 17074 27.39 13.00Microsoft MSFT 25.20 +.20 +0.8 +29.6 2.1 43274 27.66 14.87NorthropG NOC 49.51 +.23 +0.5 +9.9 3.5 1736 70.60 33.81ProvidSvc PRSC 11.48 -.37 -3.1 +691.7 ... 110 14.17 0.68QwestCm Q 3.53 -.07 -1.9 -3.0 9.1 27085 4.87 2.05Raytheon RTN 46.09 -.04 -0.1 -9.7 2.7 2677 64.00 33.20Rural/Met RURL 4.04 +.02 +0.5 +125.7 ... 42 5.01 0.50Safeway SWY 19.48 -.72 -3.6 -18.0 2.1 9428 27.25 17.19SearsHldgs SHLD 64.99 +.31 +0.5 +67.2 ... 699 108.75 26.80SwtGas SWX 24.86 +.20 +0.8 -1.4 3.8 171 33.29 17.08Target TGT 47.51 +.09 +0.2 +37.6 1.4 7053 59.55 25.00TeleTech TTEC 16.92 -.39 -2.3 +102.6 ... 245 17.77 6.20TexInst TXN 24.83 +.07 +0.3 +60.0 1.8 11905 25.35 13.38TimeWrn rs TWX 29.25 +.10 +0.3 +31.1 2.6 5966 32.33 15.41UniSrcEn UNS 30.13 +.17 +0.6 +2.6 3.8 161 33.42 20.91UnionPac UNP 63.61 +.83 +1.3 +33.1 1.7 3670 80.05 33.28UPS B UPS 59.29 +.10 +0.2 +7.5 3.0 4574 70.00 37.99WalMart WMT 49.93 -.45 -0.9 -10.9 2.2 26202 63.85 46.25Walgrn WAG 34.06 -.18 -0.5 +38.1 1.6 5934 35.65 21.28WsteMInc WM 30.10 -.56 -1.8 -9.2 3.9 3076 36.16 22.10WellsFargo WFC 28.58 +.66 +2.4 -3.1 .7 49867 44.75 7.80YumBrnds YUM 33.62 +.16 +0.5 +6.7 2.3 6339 40.25 21.50

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COMMODITIESClose Previous % change % YTD

Crude oil (bbl) 70.93 68.86 +3.01 +59.0Copper (lb) 2.83 2.79 +1.49 +102.0Gold (oz) 1005.00 999.90 +0.51 +13.7Silver (oz) 16.98 16.60 +2.27 +50.7

FOREIGN EXCHANGEForeign currency in $US $US in foreign currency

Country Today 6mo ago Today 6mo agoBritain Pound 1.6490 1.3970 .6064 .7158Canada Dollar .9316 .7845 1.0734 1.2747Euro Euro 1.4659 1.2898 .6822 .7753Mexico Peso .075157 .069054 13.3055 14.4815

starts with the artist.After the artist creates and perfects the

tattoo, the art is scanned into a computer andplaced on a large piece of paper containingaround 100 spots for temporary tattoos. Thispaper becomes the printing plate.

Multiple tattoos are then printed onto a28-by-40-inch piece of tattoo paper.

Next, the tattoos are placed on a machinethat silk-screens the adhesive, and glitterwhen necessary, onto the tattoo, bakes it foraround 10 seconds at 550 degrees Fahrenheitto seal the adhesive, and finally covers thesheet of tattoos with protective laminate pa-per.

The ink used is vegetable-based, and theadhesive is non-toxic, Tooker said.

“The adhesive, you can literally startscooping it in your mouth and it wouldn’t doanything,” he said. “ ’Cause it goes on skin, ithas to be really, really chemical-free.”

TMI owns the only two of these machinesin the world, Tooker said.

The sheets of tattoos are then taken to an-other room, where they are cut in stacks of200 with two guillotine-like machines.

In that room, the custom tattoos are pack-aged and shipped.

The temporary tattoos bound for retailstores are sent to a town south of Nogales,Sonora, where they are packaged and thenbrought back to Tucson for shipping, Tookersaid.

The company calls itself the world’slargest temporary-tattoo manufacturer.

Debbie Coopwood, TMI’s chief financialofficer, said that because of company offi-cials’ knowledge of the industry, they are

confident that label is correct.TMI employs 82 people and is contained in

one building, but it’s still keeping up with therest of the world.

“We’re competing very effectively againstChina and other places just because we’vegot a really cool process,” Tooker said.

The company works with more than60,000 custom-tattoo customers as well ascompanies such as Disney and Mattel Inc.

TMI also had a license with Ed Hardystores for four years to produce temporarytattoos of their logos, he said.

It also makes watercolor paint sheets,scratch-lottery type cards and tattoo books.

Chuck E. Cheese’s ordered about 10 mil-lion watercolor paint sheets for one of its

prizes, Tooker said.TMI also manufactures tattoos for Mat-

tel’s Tattoo Barbie, he said. “That’s howmainstream tattoos have become — (you can)put them on your Barbie.”

TMI is a finalist for the Wells Fargo CopperCactus Award for the Tucson business withthe highest growth.

“We’re getting a lot of publicity,” Tookersaid. “I think it’s because we’re still growingin a crummy economic environment andwe’re a domestic U.S. manufacturer. And ourproduct is just cool.”

Shelby Hill is a University of Arizona journalism studentwho is an apprentice at the Star. Contact her at 573-4181or at starapprentice@azstarnet.com

ARIZONA DAILY STAR / Wednesday, September 16, 2009 BUSINESS • A11

Pay credit-card billsin full each month,avoid interest hassle

C redit-card users withmoney smarts and dis-cipline can protect

themselves better than anylegislation can.

Initial provisions of theCredit Card Accountability,Responsibility and DisclosureAct, passed by Congress inMay, went into effect in Au-gust. These provisions givecardholders longer notice oninterest-rate hikes and theright to opt out as long as theystop making charges and payoff the balance within fiveyears under existing rates.Cardholders also get an extraweek between the time theyget their bills and the paymentdue date.

All good, of course, but cardusers who pay their bills in fullnever have to worry about in-terest rates. If you arrange topay your credit-card statementautomatically from yourchecking account, as I do andadvocate, your payments willbe on time.

Other aspects of the bill, in-cluding restrictions on rate in-creases, go into effect in Febru-ary. But again, there is no im-pact on those who pay theirbills in full.

Under the changes already ineffect, monthly statementshave to be mailed at least 21days before payment is due.Previously it was 14 days.

“Don’t look at this as an ex-tra week to wait and pay yourbill,” Bill Hardekopf adviseswisely. He is CEO of Low-Cards.com (www.LowCards.com), a useful Web site whereconsumers can compare fea-tures of more than 1,000 cards.“Keep your regular paymentschedule and be appreciativefor the extra cushion to makesure your issuer receives it ontime.”

Or, as my wife, Georgina,and I have done for years, signup to have your monthly billpaid automatically on the duedate through electronic trans-fer from your checking ac-count.

Automatic payments haveworked particularly well for usbecause we travel frequently.InSeptember 2004,while forcedto evacuate our home for 17 daysduring two hurricanes,we did-

n’t have to worry about ourcredit-card bills getting paid.

All cards I’ve had offer thisautomatic payment option.

Of course, when signing upyou must make sure to alwayskeep enough money in yourbank account to pay the bill —which, in itself, is a form ofdiscipline.

If you are saddled with a bal-ance and are paying interest,the new law at least gives youmore time to do somethingabout it. Issuers must give 45days’ notice instead of 15 daysbefore a rate increase. Thisgives cardholders a chance topay off the balance or shoparound for another card.

“The extra month of notifica-tion is good for consumers,but itis still our responsibility to noticethese changes,”Hardekopf said.“Pay attention to your bill in-serts,e-mail notifications or theplain white envelopes in yourmail,”which is how most issuerswill notify you.

Your best bet wheneveryou’re paying interest on acredit card is to cut out non-essential expenses and resolveto pay off your balance — whichcan be as much a matter of dis-cipline as of financial means.

“Let’s say I make $10 anhour and I buy a leather jacketfor $400. Therefore, I justspent 40 hours of my life forthat leather jacket,” saidMichael Mihalik, author of“Debt Is Slavery and 9 OtherThings I Wish My Dad HadTaught Me About Money,” abook due out in October fromMist Publishing.

“If I think of the price of theleather jacket to be 40 hours ofmy life instead of $400, I’ddefinitely think twice aboutthe purchase.”

Send questions or comments toHumberto Cruz at AskHumberto@aol.com or c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225Kenmore Ave., Buffalo, NY 14207.Personal replies are not provided.

Opinion by

HUMBERTOCRUZ

THE SAVINGS GAME

Afghanistan, according toGen. Stanley McChrystal,commander of American andNATO forces there. The Ex-calibur is one tool for attain-ing that goal, a spokesmansaid.

An unguided 155 mm shellcan miss its target by as muchas 900 feet. The Excalibur has a50-pound warhead. The Armywanted a weapon with a muchsmaller warhead than the 200-pound charge on its only preci-sion-guided, ground-basedmobile rocket system, officialssaid.

Tracing problemRaytheon shipped about 360

Excaliburs before deliverieswere halted after continuedtesting in the U.S. identified an“unacceptably high” failurerate, the service said.

The Army said the problemwas due to design limitations innavigation units that wereunique to the batch of shellstested.

The unit was produced byHoneywell International Inc.’saerospace unit. Raytheonchanged subcontractors, andit’s now being produced byCheshire, Conn.-based At-lantic Inertial Systems Inc.The company is owned by J.F.Lehman & Co., a private equi-ty investment firm that focus-es on investments in aero-

space, defense and marinesectors.

“There is no indication” thatrounds deployed in Iraq orAfghanistan have this problem,Army spokesman Maj. JimmieCummings said in an e-mail.

The Army is reviewingRaytheon Missile Systems’quality controls “as a preven-tive measure” in order “to makesure no future issues arise,”Cummings said. No “abnor-malities” have been uncoveredso far, he said.

Raytheon’s reviewRaytheon Missile Systems

spokesman John Patterson, inan e-mailed statement, said,“We continue to examine ourdesign in search of more robustcomponents.”

The new navigation unit“has proven to meet system re-quirements while providing anopportunity for increasedoverall system reliability,” hesaid.

Honeywell spokeswomanKaren Crabtree, when askedabout the test problems andreplacement, said the compa-ny’s guidance technologies“have a proven record span-ning more than half a centuryin military and space pro-grams.”

“We are leaders in guidedweapon technologies for allbranches of the military,” shesaid. “We continue to workwith Raytheon and other primecontractors on many advancedprograms.”

RAYTHEONContinued from Page A10

In fact, Pulte contends in thesuit that “it was Baltierra, notPulte, who called the othercrew members and told themthey were terminated.”

The union’s campaign in-cluded a flier stating “ ‘Rehirethe Tuscon Seven!’ ” says thelawsuit, which misspelled thecity’s name in that reference.

Pulte’s national customer-relations manager, RobertSchmittou, said he has receivedat least 750 e-mails and morethan 100 voice mails that referto the workers.

One caller said: “Don’t makeme have to come down thereand have to find out who you isand what your problem is,” ac-cording to Schmittou’s affi-davit.

Among others targeted bythe union’s e-mail campaignwas Pulte’s Arizona president,John Chadwick, the suit

claims.The union’s written state-

ment denying the lawsuit’s al-legations says: “This is reallyabout working people tryingto join together to improvetheir lives and sharing a senseof unity. Pulte workers and(the union) want Pulte to be asuccessful and profitablecompany, but a responsiblecompany also.” It was issuedby union spokeswoman DawnPage.

In August, Pulte sharehold-ers approved a $1.53 billiontakeover of Centex Corp., cre-ating the nation’s largest homebuilder.

Pulte is now positioned tosell homes in 29 states andWashington, D.C., underbrands including Del Webb, Di-Vosta, and Fox & Jacobs. Pultealso gained large tracts of landin Texas, North Carolina andSouth Carolina.

The Arizona Daily Star and The DetroitNews contributed to this report.

Copper’s economic impact grew last yearARIZONA DAILY STAR

Even as the recession tookhold and copper prices slumpedat the end of last year, the Ari-zona copper industry setrecords for economic impactand job creation in 2008, ac-cording to a recent study pre-pared for the Arizona MiningAssociation.

The state’s copper producershad a direct economic impact ofabout $3.9 billion last year, up 18percent from 2007, says the re-port by the Western EconomicAnalysis Center in Marana.

As those copper dollars rip-pled through the state’s econo-my, they created a combined di-rect and indirect economic im-pact of nearly $10.4 billion, thestudy says.

Meanwhile, Arizona copper-industry employment grew toan average of 11,200 over thecourse of 2008, the reportshowed.

Here’s a closer look at some ofthe key industry indicators:

PULTEContinued from Page A10

BY THE NUMBERSDespite falling metal prices, the state’s copper industry saw increases in employment and production in 2008

ARIZONA’S COPPER INDUSTRY

$3.86 billion

Estimated direct statewide impact in 2008

$10.39 billionCombined direct and

indirect impact

$1.12 billionDirect impact

in Pima County

$2.84 billionSales to copper industry

by other Arizona businesses

16%Increase in sales from 2007

$165.7 millionDirect tax and fee payments

to state and local governments

20%Increase in taxes

and fees from 2007

JOBS AND INCOME

11,200Direct copper industry

jobs in 2008

9%Increase in direct jobs

from 2007

28,700Peak copper industry

employment in Arizona, in 1974

$857 millionTotal direct personal

income payments

$1,335Average copper

industry weekly earnings,2008

PRODUCTION

949,354Tons of copper

and other minerals

$6.9 billionValue of production

13%Increase in value

from 2007

SOURCE: Western Economic Analysis Center

Blockbuster may closeup to 960 US stores

Blockbuster Inc. may close asmany as 960 stores by the end ofnext year, shedding more deadweight as the struggling videorental chain tries to reverse itslosses and fend off rapidly grow-ing rivals Netflix Inc. and Red-box.

The cuts outlined in docu-ments filed Tuesday would leaveBlockbuster with about 20 per-cent fewer U.S. stores.

Blockbuster hasn’t yet con-clusively decided to close all thestores mentioned in the previ-ously confidential documents,Chief Executive James Keyessaid in an interview Tuesday.

Keyes described the closuresas something that Blockbuster isconsidering as it sets up moreDVD-rental kiosks in the storesof other merchants. It’s a con-cept that has been popularizedby Coinstar Inc.’s Redbox.

Blockbuster has 26 stores inPima County, said Randy Har-grove, a company spokesman.He said he could not say which, if

any, of those stores are candi-dates for closure.

“In markets like (Pima Coun-ty), it’s going to be business asusual,” Hargrove said.

A list of stores with a potentialfor closure has not been madepublic, he said. Blockbuster willexamine each underperformingstore to determine if there is anypossibility to keep it open, hesaid. Each of the company’sstores has about seven to 10 em-ployees, Hargrove said.

Adobe Systems to buyOmniture for $1.8B

Adobe Systems Inc. saidTuesday that it will buy Omni-ture Inc., a Web analytic soft-ware company, for about $1.8billion, giving the maker of con-tent-creation software a way tolet marketers measure the effec-tiveness of such content.

San Jose, Calif.-basedAdobe, which makes Flash, Ac-robat and Photoshop software,said it will buy Omniture for$21.50 per share in cash, a pre-mium of 24 percent over Omni-ture’s closing stock price Tues-day. Omniture shares jumpednearly 26 percent in extendedtrading.

Wire and staff reports

BUSINESS

BRIEFS

MAMTA POPAT / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Marcy Moreno, an illustrator at TMI, works on Disney-themed temporary tattoos. The com-pany is a finalist for the Wells Fargo Copper Cactus Award due to its rapid growth.

TATTOOSContinued from Page A10