NATIONAL BRIEFING

TECHNOLOGY

HP to Cut 24,600 Jobs

Hewlett-Packard plans to cut about 24,600 jobs over three years as part of its integration of Electronic Data Systems. The cuts amount to about 7.5 percent of the workforce, HP said. The company also expects to incur $1.7 billion in expenses this quarter for the cuts. HP and EDS have a combined 320,000 employees.

The cuts represent HP's most aggressive move yet to streamline its operations under chief executive Mark Hurd, who engineered the $13.9 billion acquisition. Most of the cuts will come from within EDS's ranks, and nearly half will be jobs in the United States. HP said it plans to eventually add about half the positions back as different jobs in different departments within the company.

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Best Buy to Take Over Napster

Napster, the online music community that rose from a dorm-room project to become a scourge of the global recording industry, agreed to be purchased by Best Buy for nearly $127 million.

The all-cash deal, for $2.65 a share, is nearly double the music network's Friday closing price. Best Buy would get access to Napster's 700,000 subscribers who pay a monthly fee to access digital music catalogs.

The takeover, which must receive regulatory and shareholder approval, is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

EA Ends Talks With Take-Two

Take-Two Interactive, the maker of the Grand Theft Auto video games, plunged the most in almost seven years in Nasdaq trading after Electronic Arts ended takeover talks.

Take-Two fell $5.32, or 24 percent, to $16.57, the biggest drop since December 2001. EA said it wouldn't make a proposal to buy Take-Two after considering management presentations and other due-diligence materials. Last month, EA had agreed to talk with Take-Two and drop its $2 billion hostile bid.

Take-Two is "actively engaged" in talks with other parties to consider strategic options, Chairman Strauss Zelnick said in a statement.

AIRLINES

United Doubles Baggage Fee

United Airlines doubled its fee for checking a second bag on domestic flights to $50 each way, blaming higher jet-fuel costs.