Troubled Legacy auto dealership in Neb. sold

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -- A Wyoming company is buying the troubled Legacy Auto dealership in Scottsbluff.

Owner and president Kirk Bengtzen of Legacy Auto says Fremont Motor Cos. will be buying the dealership and the Ford, Mercury and Lincoln franchises, pending Ford approval.

Three other Legacy executives are facing charges in the disappearance of 86 vehicles in March.

Allen Patch, Rachel Fait and Rick Covello have been charged with 10 counts of theft, 75 counts of attempted theft and 71 counts of certificate violations.

The three were arrested after the vehicles were found in Utah, Wyoming, Las Vegas and Scottsbluff.

Fremont Motor Cos. is based in Lander, Wyo., and owns nine dealerships.

Team Chevrolet bought Legacy's Toyota franchise.

Dish Network quarterly profit rises 21 percent

Dish Network Corp., the second-largest satellite TV provider in the U.S., surprised investors Monday by posting first-quarter results that were not as bad as feared. Earnings rose by 21 percent on the back of price increases and lower costs.

Shares of Englewood, Colo.-based Dish rose $2.61, or more than 17 percent, to close at $17.92 Monday.

Dish is widely regarded as one of the weaker players in the pay-TV industry, which encompasses cable, satellite TV and phone companies that provide TV services. Dish focuses on being the low-cost provider, but that strategy hasn't led to growth amid cable and phone company discounts on their triple-play bundles of phone, Internet and cable TV.

But while the first quarter's loss of 94,000 subscribers net of cancellations was hardly cause for celebration, it was short of the 128,000 loss that Wall Street had expected.

Ford offering 300M shares in public offering

NEW YORK -- Ford Motor Co. said Monday it is launching a public offering of 300 million shares of common stock, which it will use in part to help fund its retiree health care trust.

Ford, the only U.S. automaker that has not accepted government aid, said it will use the proceeds of the offering to pay for "general corporate purposes," including funding its Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or VEBA, with cash instead of stock.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford owes $6.3 billion to its VEBA by the end of this year.

Justice Dept. plans new antitrust effort

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration warned corporate America on Monday that the government will more aggressively investigate big firms that hurt smaller competitors, contending that lax enforcement by the Bush administration contributed to the current economic troubles.

Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney said the Justice Department is abandoning legal guidelines established by George W. Bush's administration in September 2008. Critics complained that the earlier instructions made it difficult to pursue antitrust cases against big firms.

The move could have serious implications for two corporate giants, Intel Corp. and Google. Intel is already enmeshed in an antitrust case with European Union regulators, and Monday's change is seen as shifting the U.S. toward the European approach to anti-monopoly enforcement.