Computer Associates International Inc

Computer Associates International Inc. said Wednesday it has identified a new computer virus named "Cholera" that has the potential to overwhelm e-mail systems and block computer users from opening files. The virus, which hasn't yet been reported to have infected any computers, is designed to overwhelm e-mail networks by sending messages to all the addresses in an infected computer's hard drive and prevents users from opening files stored in infected directories, the software maker said.

Computer Associates International Inc. said a Computer Sciences Corp. shareholder sued CSC's board, asking it to consider CA's $9-billion acquisition bid. Computer Associates, also named as a defendant in the suit, made public its $108-a-share bid to buy CSC after talks broke down. CSC has said no negotiations with CA occurred and denied any key agreements were reached.

Computer Sciences Corp. said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose 24%, slightly beating expectations, on strong demand to provide companies with computer services. Profit before a charge was $94 million, or 59 cents a diluted share, in the quarter ended April 3, compared with net income of $75.7 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 22% to $1.87 billion, from $1.54 billion.

Computer Sciences Corp. is fashioning what may emerge as the year's most innovative defense against a hostile takeover attempt: Beat it, we're too highly classified. Lawyers for El Segundo-based CSC, which does a large amount of top-secret computer work for the CIA and other federal agencies, are combing through public records around the world for information on Computer Associates International Inc., an Islandia, N.Y.-based software firm that has launched a $9.8-billion offer to buy CSC.

Computer Associates International Inc. Chairman Charles Wang dared the management of Computer Sciences Corp. on Tuesday to let its shareholders decide whether to accept CA's hostile offer to buy the El Segundo-based company for $108 per share. "Fundamentally, the issue is: Does the shareholder have a say in this or not?" Wang said in an interview. "It isn't [Computer Sciences Chairman and Chief Executive Van Honeycutt's] decision. I think the shareholders will decide positively."

Computer Associates International Inc. said Monday that it agreed to buy Cheyenne Software Inc. for about $1.19 billion in cash, a move that would expand Computer Associates' business software line to include data storage and security products. By adding Cheyenne to a list of at least six acquisitions since 1987, Computer Associates would boost the number of its data-management software products tied to Microsoft Corp.'s increasingly popular Windows NT operating system.

Troubled computer maker Wang Laboratories Inc. announced an alliance Thursday with software giant Computer Associates International Inc. under which Computer Associates will use Wang's computer imaging technology. Wang will also provide software and equipment to Computer Associates' mainframe computer customers, the companies said. Financial terms of the agreement weren't revealed. In June, Wang announced a major alliance with International Business Machines Corp.

Texas billionaire Sam Wyly said Friday that he has stepped down as chairman of arts and crafts chain Michaels Stores Inc. to devote more time to his fight for control of software maker Computer Associates International Inc. and his family's hedge fund business. Wyly plans to devote more time to meeting with his investors and carrying on his campaign to take control of the board of Computer Associates, the world's No.

Computer Associates International Inc., which makes software to manage mainframe computers, has used accounting methods to overstate sales and profit for years, the New York Times reported Sunday, citing former employees and industry analysts. The company inflated its reported sales so that new products looked like they had sold better than they had, the paper said, quoting more than a dozen former sales, accounting and marketing workers on condition of anonymity.

A Delaware judge acting in a shareholder suit Tuesday cut in half a $1.08-billion stock bonus package paid last year to three top officers of the nation's third-largest software maker, Computer Associates International Inc.