Million Shares

Provident Bankshares Corp. announced yesterday that it will pay $33.6 million to buy out two disgruntled shareholders who tried to force the sale of the company, putting to rest a battle that had lasted more than two years. Provident will buy 1.4 million shares at $23.86 each from investors Jerry Shearer and Jerry Zucker and their firm, Columbia, S.C.-based Mid-Atlantic Investors; they own about 5.4 percent of the outstanding shares. The agreement, which has been in the works for about two months, was reached Monday, but not announced until yesterday.

The sharing of music over the Internet - for free - was struck a potentially fatal blow yesterday by a ruling that said Napster Inc.'s music-trading service violates copyright law. Although a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco did not order Napster to shut down, it upheld the essence of a July ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel and instructed her to recraft the order that briefly closed the...

EntreMed Inc., faced with the prospect of running out of cash within months if it takes no action, has announced a public offering of 1.74 million shares of common stock. The shares, the remains of a 3-million-share shelf registration the company filed in January of last year, would raise about $38 million at yesterday's closing price of $21.88 per share. EntreMed's shares fell $2.56, or 10.5 percent, yesterday on the Nasdaq stock market in the wake of the late-Monday announcement, even as biotechnology stocks in general rallied.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Bethlehem Steel Corp. said yesterday that it will repurchase as many as 25 million shares, or about 19 percent of the company's common stock. The shares had declined 81 percent this year. The buyback will be the first in at least 24 years for the fifth-largest U.S. steel maker, said spokeswoman Bette Kovach. Bethlehem Steel's shares rose 38 cents yesterday to $2. Buying back 25 million shares would cost $50 million, based on the closing price. The shares have dropped to their lowest levels in at least 20 years as Bethlehem Steel has reported losses in six of the past eight quarters.

USinternetworking Inc., which leases business management software over the Internet, saw its stock price rise 33 percent yesterday after the Annapolis company announced more than $300 million in equity investment and credit facilities. Deals with Microsoft Corp., Aether Systems Inc. and GE Capital and other lenders will give USi a much needed boost, analysts said. The company's shares gained $1.25 yesterday to close at $5 on the Nasdaq stock market. "This was very, very significant for the company," said Michael G. Bowen, a Deutsche Banc Alex.

Orion Power Holdings Inc., Maryland's newest public company, was valued at $1.9 billion yesterday after its stock was priced at $20 a share in an initial public offering - the top of the estimated price range. Underwriters sold 27.5 million shares - 29.6 percent of Orion's 93 million shares - raising $550 million and netting $452 million for the company. Orion, a Baltimore company that buys and operates power plants nationwide, will begin trading today on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ORN."

One day after releasing record third-quarter earnings, Black & Decker Corp. said its board of directors increased the number of shares the company is authorized to repurchase. The Towson-based toolmaker ended its third quarter with authorization to purchase 2.2 million shares. The board added 3 million yesterday, authorizing the company to buy back 5.2 million shares, or 6 percent of the shares outstanding. Typically, a company buys back its shares when it believes them to be undervalued.

Orion Power Holdings Inc., a Baltimore company that buys and operates power plants nationwide, plans to raise as much as $500 million in an initial public offering. Underwriters for Orion plan to sell 25 million shares to the public at $17 to $20 a share, according to an amended company prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The date of the offering has not been announced. The company plans to use the proceeds for future acquisitions and for the purchase, announced earlier this week, of Columbia Electric Corp.

Like a lover's sweet good-bye kiss, last year's bull stock market bestowed unexpected, if temporary, joy on Maryland's budget officers. An extra $80.4 million in income taxes poured into state coffers - despite a state income tax cut - and an additional $77 million was distributed among the 24 local governments in September. Overall, state revenues were $145.7 million over estimates, said David F. Roose, director of the Bureau of Revenue Estimates for Maryland's comptroller. But the best came last, with September's distribution to local governments providing millions more dollars - for higher health insurance costs and community renewal in Baltimore County; to help balance budgets next year in Baltimore city, Prince George's and Harford counties, and for school construction in many jurisdictions.

Like a lover's sweet good-bye kiss, last year's bull stock market bestowed unexpected, if temporary, joy on Maryland's budget officers. An extra $80.4 million in income taxes poured into state coffers - despite a state income tax cut - and an additional $77 million was distributed among the 24 local governments last month. Overall, total state revenues were $145.7 million over estimates, said David F. Roose, director of the Bureau of Revenue Estimates for Maryland's comptroller. But the best came last, with last month's distribution to local governments providing millions more dollars - for higher health insurance costs and community renewal in Baltimore County; to help balance budgets next year in Baltimore City, Prince George's and Harford counties; and for school construction in many jurisdictions.