ViaSat to offer high-speed Internet

California-based ViaSat Inc. will offer its Exede high-speed satellite Internet service in Hawaii beginning this week, the company said Wednesday.

Plans include nearly unlimited data usage for communications, Web browsing and streaming media.

Additional information is available at exede.com or via 855-627-2553. The service offers at least 150 Gigabytes of monthly data starting at $69.99 a month, as an introductory rate.

"With Exede Internet, we’ve shown that we can deliver high speeds at reasonable cost to virtually anyone in the U.S.," said Lisa Scalpone, ViaSat vice president for broadband, in a statement.

BofA reaches $17B settlement with U.S.

WASHINGTON » Bank of America has reached a record $17 billion settlement to resolve an investigation into its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities before the 2008 financial crisis, officials directly familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

One of the officials, who spoke with the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the announcement isn’t scheduled until Thursday at the earliest, said the bank will pay $10 billion in cash and provide consumer relief valued at $7 billion.

The deal is the largest settlement arising from the economic meltdown in which millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure. It follows agreements in the last year with Citigroup for $7 billion and with JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $13 billion.

Buffett’s firm to pay $896,000 penalty

OMAHA, Neb. » Warren Buffett’s company has agreed to an $896,000 penalty for failing to tell regulators about a December 2013 investment in wallboard maker USG Corp. beforehand.

The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. should have notified the U.S. Justice Department before it converted $325 million of senior USG notes it held into 21.4 million shares of the company.

Because Berkshire was already a significant USG shareholder, antitrust laws required it to notify regulators because of the size of the deal. At the end of June, Berkshire held just over 39 million USG shares.

Women struggle for small business loans

NEW YORK » Women are a growing force in the business world, but if they own a company, they may still struggle to get a loan from a bank.

Carrie Charlick and Marcia Cubitt have $4 million in sales but have been rejected for $500,000 credit lines since 2012. Their 11-year-old company, Essential Body Wear, sells women’s underwear at parties at customers’ homes. That’s a problem for bankers, Charlick says. Because the business, based in the Detroit suburb of Commerce Township, doesn’t have a traditional structure and sells directly to the public rather than retailers, banks keep saying no.

Male loan officers have also made inappropriate comments about the fact the company sells lingerie. Charlick is convinced that they have a problem with women-owned businesses.

Data breach still dogs Target earnings

NEW YORK » Target Corp. slashed its annual profit outlook for the second time in three months as the retailer reels from a massive customer-data breach, a botched Canadian expansion and sluggish U.S. sales.

The nation’s third-largest retailer also said Wednesday that its second-quarter earnings dropped 61.7 percent. Excluding expenses related to the data breach, earnings per share came in a penny short of Target’s reduced estimate, issued earlier this month.

The latest results highlight the challenges that new CEO Brian Cornell, a former PepsiCo executive who officially started at Target Aug. 12, faces on all fronts.

Cornell must wrestle not only with problems specific to Target, such as restoring the discounter’s reputation as a cheap chic fashion purveyor.

Apple’s stock bounces back to new high

SAN FRANCISCO » Apple’s stock touched a new high Wednesday, reflecting investors’ renewed faith in CEO Tim Cook’s ability to outwit the competition and expand the technological hit factory built by the late Steve Jobs.

The milestone represents a dramatic turnaround in sentiment since Apple’s shares reached its previous split-adjusted peak of $100.72 in September 2012. After hitting $101.09 Wednesday afternoon, shares closed up 4 cents at $100.57. That gave Apple a market value of $602 billion — by far more than any other publicly held company.

ON THE MOVE

Honolulu HomeLoans has announced Erica Dzikowski as a senior loan officer. She will specialize in residential mortgage loan origination. She has 14 years in finance and 10 years in lending experience, including serving as a loan officer for VIP Mortgage and a mortgage consultant for Wells Fargo.

Kiewit Building Group has hired Gabriel Kwiatkowski as a project engineer for Kapolei II Elementary, which will be completed by April 2015. Kwiatkowski has more than 15 years of commercial, residential and industrial construction experience, including six years in construction and project management.

Hawaiian Airlines has promoted Linda Srabian to managing director of Honolulu Hub. She has 30 years of airline operations experience, including working for Hawaiian Airlines since 2008 as director, Airbus integration, and was then promoted to senior director, North America. Prior to Hawaiian Airlines, Srabian held a number of management and leadership positions at United Airlines, US Airways and Northwest Airlines.