Footstar Inc

Shoe retailer Footstar Inc. said it had replaced its chief executive after an internal investigation uncovered accounting errors and found that management failed to properly communicate with auditors. West Nyack, N.Y.-based Footstar, which said in mid-November that it would have to restate earnings because it had understated payments to suppliers, said board member Neele Stearns Jr. will serve as chairman and CEO in the interim.

Guess Inc. said Chief Operating Officer Carlos Alberini was notified by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he might face civil charges for violating securities laws while he was employed at Footstar Inc. The notice isn't directed against Guess or anyone else in its management, the Los Angeles company said in an SEC filing. Footstar, operator of shoe departments at retailers including Sears Holdings Corp.'s Kmart, reported receiving a similar notification on Friday.

Guess Inc. said Chief Operating Officer Carlos Alberini was notified by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he might face civil charges for violating securities laws while he was employed at Footstar Inc. The notice isn't directed against Guess or anyone else in its management, the Los Angeles company said in an SEC filing. Footstar, operator of shoe departments at retailers including Sears Holdings Corp.'s Kmart, reported receiving a similar notification on Friday.

Shoe retailer Footstar Inc. said it had replaced its chief executive after an internal investigation uncovered accounting errors and found that management failed to properly communicate with auditors. West Nyack, N.Y.-based Footstar, which said in mid-November that it would have to restate earnings because it had understated payments to suppliers, said board member Neele Stearns Jr. will serve as chairman and CEO in the interim.

* Energy explorer Kerr-McGee Corp. said it was buying Denver-based Westport Resources Corp. for about $2.5 billion in stock in a deal that would create one of the nation's biggest independent oil and gas producers. * Merck & Co. said it planned to grant a license to a South African company to make and sell a generic version of efavirenz, a key anti-retroviral AIDS drug. * Footstar Inc.

Coast Business Credit announced that its founder, Jack Baruch, will retire as of Dec. 31. Baruch founded Coast 40 years ago and has been its chairman and chief executive. Coast was acquired by Torrance-based Imperial Credit Industries in 1995 and it became a division of Imperial's Southern Pacific Bank subsidiary. A successor to Baruch was not immediately named. * Carlos Alberini has been named president and chief operating officer of Los Angeles-based apparel maker Guess Inc.

A former executive of Just for Feet, the athletic-shoe retailer that filed for bankruptcy protection in 1999, pleaded guilty to fraud charges, the Justice Department said Monday. Adam Gilburne, who held various positions at Just for Feet starting in 1994, had been charged with a scheme to artificially inflate the company's books by improper recognition of income from the company's advertising agency, Birmingham, Ala.-based Rogers Advertising.

Shares in Nike Inc. dropped 19% after the athletic apparel and shoe company warned that its earnings will be hurt this fiscal year and next by retailers' plans to close hundreds of sporting-goods stores. The stock fell $8.25 to close at $37 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Earnings for the fiscal year ending May 31 could be slightly less than the average $2.08-a-share forecast of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial, Nike executives told analysts in New York.

Nike Inc. shares rose 6.4% on Wednesday on speculation that Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett may be purchasing shares in the maker of athletic clothes and shoes, analysts and investors said. Nike's stock rose $3.875 to close at $64 in trading of 6.37 million shares, more than double the three-month daily average of 2.76 million. Nike and Berkshire Hathaway executives declined to comment. A purchase by Buffett would be a boon to Nike's stock.

K-Swiss Inc., a Westlake Village-based maker of athletic shoes, said Wednesday that fiscal fourth-quarter profit may fall as much as 27% below analysts' estimates after some retailers canceled orders. The news sent K-Swiss shares plunging $4.25, or 24%, to close at $13.25 on Nasdaq.. The company expects profit of 40 cents to 50 cents a share, below analysts' average estimate of 55 cents, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. The company also expects sales of $49 million to $50 million.

The nation's largest specialty apparel retailer, Gap Inc., mired in an extended sales slump, staunched its losing streak in January as retailers Thursday reported solid sales. Some retailers cited January's cold snap as a sales booster. But Quiksilver Inc. said an unseasonably warm winter and poor snow conditions in the U.S. and Europe had a decidedly different effect on its sale of ski gear.