E Trade Group Inc

For Christos Cotsakos, the revolution ended abruptly Friday. The controversial head of online trading firm E-Trade Group Inc., a key player in the late- 1990s Internet stock-trading frenzy whose ads once proclaimed, "Welcome to the next revolution," unexpectedly resigned as chairman and chief executive of the company. Cotsakos' departure came two days after Menlo Park, Calif.

Computer problems struck online brokerage firm E-Trade Group Inc. for a second day Thursday, temporarily preventing customers from trading stocks and raising questions about how investors can protect themselves in the future from similar outages at other firms. New software installed Tuesday night by E-Trade knocked out trading about 7 a.m. PST on Thursday. Some service was restored within an hour, and the system was fixed completely within two hours, said Lisa Nash, an E-Trade spokeswoman.

Other California company earnings, excluding one-time gains and charges unless noted: * Amgen Inc., the world's largest biotechnology company, said first-quarter earnings rose 32% as sales of its blockbuster anemia drug, Epogen, soared. Net income rose to $247 million, or 46 cents a share, from $187 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier. Results exceeded the 44-cent average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Revenue rose 23%, to $745.4 million from $605.

E-Trade Group Inc., the Palo Alto-based online brokerage, on Tuesday unveiled plans to create an online investment bank that will help companies raise money over the Internet and be led by Orange County investment banker Walter Cruttenden III. The company, EOffering, will be challenging some powerhouse Wall Street firms, much as E-Trade did when it began selling stocks online. Investors include Sanford Robertson and Cruttenden, who both previously led their own California-based investment banks.

E-Trade Group Inc., the Palo Alto-based online brokerage, on Tuesday unveiled plans to create an online investment bank that will help companies raise money over the Internet and be led by Orange County investment banker Walter Cruttenden III. The company, EOffering, will be challenging some powerhouse Wall Street firms, much as E-Trade did when it began selling stocks online. Investors include Sanford Robertson and Cruttenden, who both previously led their own California-based investment banks.

Mark Robertson spent most of last Wednesday morning trying to get into his Internet trading account through E-Trade Group Inc.'s World Wide Web site. When he finally got through, he sold the E-Trade shares he'd bought almost a year ago. The full-time investor in Raleigh, N.C., was betting against E-Trade because of the online brokerage's problems handling the huge volume of trades in last Tuesday's rally that followed the previous day's 554-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average.

Four brokerage firms may have lost more than $100 million in a stock trading scheme involving a cast of characters including a global arms dealer and a woman who claims to have been the model for Mattel Inc.'s Pocahontas doll. The firms, which include E-Trade Group Inc., the nation's second-largest online broker, were involved in lending money to MJK Clearing Inc. in exchange for 7.2 million shares of Van Nuys-based GenesisIntermedia Inc. GenesisIntermedia is a telemarketing firm.

Online broker E-Trade Financial Corp. said Monday that it would buy U.S. rival Harrisdirect from Canada's BMO Financial Group for $700 million in cash to strengthen its position in the online brokerage industry. The deal will help New York-based E-Trade to accelerate its growth plans by gaining 430,000 customers with an average account balance of $70,000. BMO, on the other hand, is getting rid of a business that lacked the necessary scale to be successful in the long term.

LSI Logic Corp. said Wednesday that it will cut 1,200 jobs and close plants to combat the effects of a worldwide economic slowdown, as the chip maker's third-quarter profit fell 60%. The company earned $19 million, or 14 cents a share, before charges in the quarter resulted in a loss, down from $47 million, or 33 cents, a year earlier. The No. 1 maker of chips used in networking equipment had been expected to earn 13 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call Corp.

Who will make big news in the business world this year? Who will emerge from relative obscurity to become a major player? To start the new year, Times business reporters selected people from their beats who they believe will be among those to watch in 2000--in Southern California, across the country and around the world. Some are well known, having made big news in previous years. Others are not exactly household names but nevertheless are likely to make a major impact in their fields.