Micron Technology Inc. MU -2.14% announced Mark Durcan, 51, had been appointed chief executive replacing Steven Appleton, who was killed Friday when the small plane he was piloting crashed at an airport near the company headquarters in Boise, Idaho. Durcan had been Micron’s president and chief operating officer. On Saturday he was also appointed to the company’s board of directors. Micron’s... 

TOKYO (MarketWatch) — Scandal-hit Olympus Corp. said Friday it will release its earnings results for the April to December period on Feb. 13, a day before a legal deadline for listed firms to submit their accounts. President Shuichi Takayama will hold a news conference the same day to explain the results, a company spokeswoman said. The Japanese maker of cameras and medical imaging equipment... 

SEOUL -(MarketWatch)- Samsung Electronics Co. said Friday its fourth-quarter net profit rose 17% from a year earlier as record smartphone sales outweighed pressure from the firm’s other businesses, which have been hit by plunging demand in developed economies. Samsung, the world’s largest technology firm by revenue, said its net profit for the three months ended Dec. 31 rose to KRW4 trillion... 

Alliant Energy Corp. LNT -0.21% said Chairman and Chief Executive William D. Harvey would retire at the end of March and named its operating chief as his successor. Harvey had been chairman and chief for the last six years, having worked at the utility company and its predecessor for 25 years. Alliant named Chief Operating Officer Patricia L. Kampling to become chief executive and chairman after he... 

Xilinx Inc.’s XLNX +7.17% fiscal third-quarter profit fell 17% on weaker revenue from the chip maker’s communications customers, though its earnings per share topped analysts’ estimates. Shares rose 7.1% to $37.82 after hours as the company predicted its fourth-quarter revenue would rebound by 2% to 6% sequentially, delivering between $521.3 million and $541.8 million in sales. Analysts’... 

SAN FRANCISCO -(MarketWatch)- Biogen Idec Inc. BIIB +0.23% Chief Executive George Scangos is trying to solve a problem of his own creation: He must replenish an early-stage drug research pipeline that he decimated after taking over the biotechnology company in 2010. Scangos and his research chief eliminated about 17 early-stage drug projects in 2010 and last year to hone the company’s focus,... 

PetSmart Inc. PETM +0.04% has appointed Chief Executive Lawrence Robert F. Moran as chairman and also promoted Executive Vice President David K. Lenhardt to president and chief operating officer. Moran has served as the pet product retailer’s CEO and president since 2009 and previously served as chief operating officer. Moran will retain his CEO title while Phil Francis, the board’s former... 

Claire’s Stores Inc. said Chief Executive Eugene S. Kahn has resigned from the women’s accessories and jewelry retailer, and two other executives were named to take over his responsibilities on a temporary basis. Kahn has worked as chief executive since the company went private in 2007 in a $3.1 billion takeover by private-equity firm Apollo Management LP. While the board will conduct a... 

Progress Software Corp. PRGS +4.23% named Jay Bhatt, a former executive at Autodesk Inc. ADSK +6.04% , as its president and chief executive, effective Dec. 5. The business-software maker said in August that President and Chief Executive Richard D. Reidy would step down once it named a successor. Reidy had been in the roles since March 2009. Progress, which serves customers in the telecommunications,... 

ZURICH — Credit Suisse Group CS -0.09% Thursday said it will close its U.S. offshore unit Credit Suisse Private Advisors as part of plans to boost the profitability of its private banking activities. The unit, a U.S. registered broker dealer and investment adviser, will be integrated into Credit Suisse’s private banking unit in the U.S. Ten advisers will be affected by the changes at the...