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World Business Quick Take

■ Internet
SCO shuts down Web site
The SCO Group software company shut down its Web site Monday in response to a denial-of-service attack engineered by the prevalent MyDoom virus. Microsoft is to be the next target of the virus, which infected hundreds of thousands of computers last week and programmed them to flood the SCO Group and Microsoft starting on Sunday and yesterday, respectively. The Utah-based SCO Group is thought to have been targeted because of its intention to sue users of the open-source operating system Linux for copyright violations. The company said the hostage code replicates part of the Unix operating system, which it owns. Microsoft is thought to be at less risk because its sites are considered among the most secure on the Internet.

■ Macroeconomics
World economies may grow
The US and global economies this year may grow the most in two decades, as profits and productivity improve, the Conference Board said. The US economy may expand 5.9 percent this year, while Europe's and Japan's each may grow about 3 percent, according to the Conference Board, a New York-based research group. The global economy may grow 5 percent, while most other regions expand at "6 percent or better," the group said. "The US economy and world economies continue in the virtuous phase of a strong economic cycle in which accelerating growth generates productivity and profits, and rising employment creates a new phase of income-driven consumer spending," Gail Fosler, the Conference Board's chief economist, said in a statement.

■ Computers
Sony to play games in China
Sony Corp plans to enter China's online gaming market through a partnership with an unidentified Internet company, the China Daily reported, citing Cindy Armstrong, vice president for international business development at Sony Online Entertainment. The Sony unit, which operates the two most popular online games in the US, will finish negotiations with the Internet company within three weeks to offer its PlanetSide shooting game, the newspaper quoted Armstrong as saying. Sony is also trying to find partners for EverQuest II, the sequel to its online role-playing game EverQuest, the report said. Sony may license the game or form a venture, Armstrong told the newspaper. Sony's France-based partner UbiSoft began to operate EverQuest in China last year, the report said.

■ Electronics
Pioneer to buy NEC unit
Pioneer Corp will buy NEC Corp's plasma display panel (PDP) operations, the two Japanese electronics companies said yesterday. The demand for PDPs is surging amid the growing popularity of flat-screen TVs. But intensifying competition from Asian rivals has been spurring a realignment among Japanese makers, including NEC and Pioneer. Pricing and other details will be announced later, both sides said in a statement. Pioneer said it expects to hold a leading 22 percent share of the global PDP market in the next fiscal year as a result of the deal. Under the agreement, Pioneer will acquire all shares in NEC Plasma Display Corp, an NEC subsidiary, and all intellectual property rights NEC holds related to PDPs. NEC said it hopes to focus on its core businesses of network solutions and semiconductors.

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