BUSINESS

Postal Service introduces PC stamps No need to leave home to buystamps any more. The Postal Service today launched PC Postage, astamp that can be printed through personal computers. Whether it'sused by the average consumer mailing holiday cards or weddinginvitations or a business sending correspondence, the systemeventually could change the way many people put postage on theirenvelopes. Consumers would go online to one of the companiesoffering PC Postage. With an ordinary laser or inkjet printer, abarcode would be printed on each envelope to indicate mail processinginformation and postage payment. For packages, consumers would enterthe weight, buy the appropriate amount of postage and print it onlabels to be put on the packages. Iridium reportedly close to dealon debt The global satellite phone company Iridium LLC is close toreaching a restructuring agreement with debt holders, according topeople familiar with the negotiations. The restructuring packageinvolves offering 44 percent of the company's equity to holders of$1.45 billion of Iridium's debt, they said. It also calls for a $400million cash infusion from the Washington, D.C.-based satellite phonecompany's chief backer, Motorola Inc., along with a few otherstrategic investors. The cash injection would raise Motorola's stakein Iridium to 25 percent from 18 percent, the sources said.Officials at Iridium did not return phone calls seeking comment. Ifdebt negotiations aren't successful, Iridium could be pushed tobankruptcy as early as Wednesday. NBC cuts deal with Net2Phone NBCis taking a stake in Net2Phone Inc., a company that providestelephone service over the Internet, in exchange for prominentplacement of links on the network's top Web sites. Visitors to theNBC.com, Snap.com and NBC Interactive Neighborhood Web sites will beable to search yellow and white page phone listings and click anylisting to automatically dial the number using Net2Phone's service,the companies announced today. In return, NBC, the broadcastingunit of General Electric, and Snap.com would acquire an equity stakein Net2Phone, with NBC gaining the right to nominate a board memberto Net2Phone's board of directors. Financial terms of the deal werenot disclosed. Amazon, New York Times settle dispute Amazon.com Inc.and the New York Times Co. have settled a legal dispute over theonline retailer's use of the Times' best-seller list in promotingdiscounts for its books. Since mid-May, Amazon.com has offered 50percent discounts on books that appear on the Times' list. The Timesobjected to Amazon's republication of the list without permission,however, saying that it constituted an unlawful use of intellectualproperty. Amazon filed a federal court lawsuit on June 4, askingthat it be allowed to continue to refer to the list. Under theagreement announced today, the Times will allow Amazon to continueusing the list, and Amazon will continue to supply the Times with itssales data. Amazon agreed to delay posting the list until the Timeshas made it available to the general public and include a disclaimerthat the Times is not affiliated with and does not endorseAmazon.com. Job cuts up 8 percent over last year Job cuts in Julyincreased 8 percent from a year ago, marking the 16th consecutivemonth that cuts have increased year over year, Challenger, Gray &Christmas Inc., an outplacement firm, said today. The July figures,however, were a 14 percent decline from the number of job cuts inJune. Job cuts for July totaled 54,709 compared with 63,397 inJune, the firm said. In July 1998, job cuts totaled 50,774. "If jobcuts continue at their current pace, we will surpass the 1998record-breaking total (677,795) by at least 10 percent," said John A.Challenger, chief executive of the company. Grain, soybean futurescontinue advance Grain and soybean futures continued their rallytoday on the Chicago Board of Trade amid worries weekend rains didlittle to relieve stressed crops. Widespread showers fell over theweekend across bone-dry areas of the Midwest, but there wereconflicting views about whether rainfall totals were adequate torelieve crops where soil moisture had fallen to critical levels.Wheat for December delivery rose 1 1/4 cents to $2.97 a bushel;December corn rose 1/2 cent to $2.36 a bushel; December oats rose 11/2 cents to $1.19 1/4 a bushel; November soybeans rose 5 cents to$4.88 a bushel.