Also

* Verizon Communications Inc. said it would cut pension benefits for managers, saving the company $3 billion before taxes over 10 years after costs of $60 million in the fourth quarter to reflect the changes and increases in payments to savings plans.

* Liberty Media Corp., owner of the QVC home shopping network, agreed to buy Provide Commerce Inc. for $477 million to add flowers and meat to the goods it sells online.

* HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy, cleared of orchestrating a $2.7-billion fraud at the company, is quitting the board of directors three weeks before new management planned to strip him of the post.

* Maytag Corp. agreed to pay $334,500 to settle an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit that claimed the company tried to force out senior sales managers older than 50.

* The group that oversees Internet domain sites, the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers, postponed a decision on whether to kill or approve a controversial “.xxx” domain for sex sites.