Business Briefs

Williams ups Marcellus stake

Williams Cos., owner of the Transco natural gas pipeline that traverses Luzerne County, announced Tuesday that it has purchased drilling rights to 42,000 acres primarily in Susquehanna County from Alta Resources LLC and its partners for $501 million, an average of $11,929 per acre.

“This acquisition establishes Williams with a significant concentrated acreage position in what we believe is the highest resource potential area of the Marcellus,” Ralph Hill, president of exploration and production at Williams, said in a statement.

Williams also has committed to leasing 8,000 acres elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Combined, the two deals double the company’s holdings in the Marcellus Shale play to 94,000 acres at an average of $7,000 per acre, Williams said. Its Williams Production Appalachia, LLC holds several hundred leases in Luzerne and Columbia counties.

Williams announced earlier this year that two affiliated partnerships will purchase most of its pipeline assets.

Merck CEO questioned

Shareholders of drugmaker Merck & Co. peppered its CEO at their annual meeting with questions about what the company will do to boost its lagging stock price, boost dividends and improve performance.

Merck bought its New Jersey neighbor, Schering-Plough Corp., for $41 billion last fall to boost its pipeline of experimental drugs and diversify into biologic medicines and consumer health products.

Chief Executive Richard T. Clark says there are no immediate plans to raise the dividend but that Merck’s overall strategy should push up its share price.

Color Kindle far off

Speaking Tuesday at the online retailer’s annual shareholder meeting in Seattle, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said that adding color to the Kindle’s “electronic ink” display is a difficult technical challenge and that a color screen is “still a long way out.” Bezos said he’s seen things “in the laboratory” that are “still not ready for prime-time production.”

Tablet computers such as Apple Inc.’s iPad and some e-readers sport LCD displays, which can show color. But those are harder to see in sunlight and consume much more power than e-ink displays.

Italy seeking budget cuts

Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s ministers on Tuesday approved euro24 billion ($30 billion) in budget cuts for the 2011-2012 period aimed at protecting the country from the sort of market speculation that pushed Greece to the brink of bankruptcy.