BREAKFAST BRIEFING // CHICAGO

Comdisco wins Sabre contract Comdisco Inc., the Rosemont technologyservices company, said it has received a $160 million, seven-yeartechnology management contract from Sabre Group, the electronicdistributor of travel services and a software developer for thetravel industry. Comdisco will help Sabre acquire and maintain newtechnology systems to improve its operation while reducing costs.Motorola modems selling strong Motorola's Multimedia Group announcedit has shipped 250,000 cable modems in the last five and a halfmonths, compared to the same number for the preceding 18 months.Motorola said the increase confirmed its position as the world leaderin sales of cable modems. The modems provide high-speed Internetaccess to homes and businesses. Cable modem sales are expected toincrease dramatically as TCI and other companies upgrade theirsystems to allow for Internet access.State's farmland prices sagging Farmland prices in Illinois andother Midwest states have fallen because of a steep decrease in farmcommodity prices, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said.The survey said the price of non-irrigated cropland dropped 1.3percent in the quarter ending Sept. 30. A worldwide grain glut andslumping exports are pushing down prices of U.S. crops andlivestock, leading to falling farm profits and less demand for land.Jacobs pulls out of metals firm Metal Management Inc. of Chicagosaid Gerard Jacobs resigned as chief executive of the strugglingscrap metal company and is leading a group of investors that will buyMetal Management's California forging business for $17.1 million.Jacobs' new holding company, Huntington AluTech Inc., will pay $13.6million in cash and a $2.5 million two-year promissory note, plus $1million if the metals business, called Superior Forge Inc., meetscertain earnings targets. Metal Management, which wants toconsolidate the fragmented U.S. scrap industry, has slowed itsacquisition pace and is selling assets as it fights to overcome weakscrap prices and other problems. Chairman T. Benjamin Jennings wasnamed chief executive, replacing Jacobs. Jacobs said he will remaina director of Metal Management, which is based in Chicago.Circle wraps up Internet PSO Circle Group Internet of Chicago saidit has completed its direct public stock offering of 500,000 sharesvia the Internet, without assistance from brokers or dealers. Thesale raised $2.5 million. Circle group is now seeking to help othersmall technology companies raise funding.Shakeup at Sidley & Austin Sidley & Austin, the 133-year-old Chicagolaw firm, announced that Charles W. Douglas will serve as chairman ofits management committee, which is responsible for the day-to-dayoperations of the firm. Douglas succeeds R. Eden Martin, who waschairman for 10 years. Douglas, 50, is a graduate of Harvard and aresident of Chicago.Fort James closing one plant Fort James Corporation, the Deerfieldmaker of consumer paper products, announced it will begin to closeits folding-carton packaging plant in Chambersburg, Pa., in earlyJune.Correction The Latin American Chamber of Commerce luncheon meetingwith speaker Thomas J. McCracken, chairman of the RegionalTransportation Authority, will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at LaVilla Banquets, 3638 N. Pulaski. For further information, call (773)252-5211. Incorrect information appeared in the Monday BusinessCalendar.