Briefs: Split up Motorola, Icahn says again

NEW YORK -- Activist investor Carl Icahn said Friday he still thinks Schaumburg-based mobile handset maker Motorola should be split up and the company's handheld business could be worth about $10 billion. "We do talk with them periodically," he said in a television interview on CNBC. "Motorola has great value. If you really split Motorola up, which I still think should happen … you're buying that handheld business for only $10 billion, which is next to nothing." Motorola's market capitalization is $43.5 billion based on its closing share price Friday. Its mobile devices generated almost half of its $8.7 billion second-quarter revenue. Icahn failed to win a seat on the company's board in May.

New AIDS drug OK'd, Merck says

WASHINGTON -- A new AIDS treatment made by Merck & Co, the first in a new class of drugs aimed at preventing replication of the virus, has been approved by U.S. regulators, Merck said Friday. The drug will be available in about two weeks, Merck said. Isentress is a pill given twice a day and known generically as raltegravir.

American Airlines raises fares

DALLAS -- American Airlines raised many domestic fares by $5 each way but left prices unchanged on routes where it competes with low-cost carriers. The Thursday night increase affected both advance-purchase tickets favored by vacationers and more costly last-minute tickets aimed at business travelers. Tim Smith, a spokesman for the airline owned by Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., said the increase is needed to cover higher fuel costs.

Ford chief likes recent UAW deals

DEARBORN, Mich. -- The main planks of the United Auto Workers union's deals with General Motors and Chrysler will help Ford Motor Co. become more competitive, Chief Executive Alan Mulally said Friday. Mulally told the Associated Press he speaks often with UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, whom he considers a business partner in turning around the automaker. Ford is next up in negotiations with the labor union.