3com Corp

3Com Corp. will pay $259 million to settle a class-action complaint alleging it misled investors about its $8.9-billion purchase of U.S. Robotics Corp. in 1997. The company admitted no liability as part of the all-cash settlement. 3Com had been accused of inflating the value of the company's stock by failing to disclose that U.S. Robotics had accumulated millions of dollars in excessive inventories, among other things.

3Com Inc. plans to use the Internet to poll people around the world for their views on sex, education, dreams and other personal topics. The Santa Clara-based computer networking company said Wednesday it is working with the Harris Poll and technology leaders such as Sun Microsystems Inc. and Oracle Corp., to carry out its "Planet Project" over four days next month.

Computer networking equipment maker 3Com Corp. said Bruce Claflin, president and chief operating officer, will replace Eric Benhamou as chief executive, effective Jan. 1. The move came two years after Claflin joined Santa Clara, Calif.-based 3Com after 22 years at IBM Corp. and a later stint at Digital Equipment Corp., now owned by Compaq Computer Corp.

3Com Corp., a maker of computer networking equipment, lost $59.2 million in its fiscal first quarter on marketing and research costs that the company hopes will help it return to profitability. The loss of 17 cents a share contrasts with net income of $137.5 million, or 38 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 1 fell 23% to $933.8 million. Excluding acquisition costs, a reorganization charge and investment gains, 3Com said its loss was $41.

New documents filed in federal court say that 3Com Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Eric Benhamou had more than a casual relationship with the groups battling for control of Yellowave Corp., a former franchiser of hair salons turned tech incubator that is the target of fraud allegations. Benhamou apparently met with top executives of the company in July to discuss prospects for its technology and briefly accepted an offer to join its board, court filings say.

A boardroom squabble over whether Eric Benhamou, chairman and chief executive of the giant 3Com Corp., is involved with a tiny Los Angeles technology incubator has sparked allegations of death threats, fraudulent overseas money transfers and the sale of companies that may never have existed. The controversy has crippled Yellowave Corp., a former operator of discount hair salons, which has reinvented itself as an incubator for Israeli technology companies.

Computer networking-equipment maker 3Com Corp. reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that were in line with analyst expectations, saying its ongoing restructuring is on track to be completed by the end of its first fiscal quarter. Santa Clara, Calif.-based 3Com said it had a loss of $146.8 million, or 42 cents a share, contrasted with year-ago net income of $87.5 million, or 24 cents. Sales fell to $763.7 million from $1.

3Com Corp. said Monday that it awarded a $100-million brand and product advertising contract to New York-based Lowe, Lintas & Partners. The ad campaign, which will include advertising in Asia, Europe and South America, marks a 40% increase in the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company's advertising budget.