The Interpublic Group of Companies in New York has confirmed that it paid bonuses totaling more than $41.4 million to executives in 2003, a year in which it lost $451.7 million, laid off employees, took large charges to earnings and cut costs to raise cash.

A billboard meant to pique interest in a mockumentary-style movie about the role of Mexicans in California did just that - and then some.

Kmart Holding Corp. announced Monday that it is withdrawing a lawsuit against Martha Stewart's company after the two sides reached an agreement on royalties on sales of goods bearing the Stewart name.

OmniPilot Software got its start as an application intended to help Starmark International, a Fort Lauderdale-based corporate ad agency, manage its internal operations more efficiently. But the software has worked so well that people who visited Starmark and learned about it soon began asking if they could purchase copies for use at the agencies where they worked.

Comcast appears likely to withdraw its bid for Disney in the coming weeks, The Post has learned. Executives at the cable giant are currently weighing the timing of such an announcement, sources say. While one could come as soon as this week, when Comcast reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday, a more likely scenario is that the company would take its bid off the table in the weeks leading up to its annual shareholder meeting in May.

Mitsubishi Motors North America is preparing to move its $250 million U.S. media buying account to Omnicom Group's PHD North America from Interpublic Group of Cos.' Deutsch, Los Angeles, according to an executive close to the situation.

Advertising trade publication Adweek said on Thursday it will launch a new magazine for advertisers trying to navigate a burgeoning market of Hispanic Americans that largely remains untapped.

Ed Wilson, head of NBC Enterprises, the TV network's syndication division, has resigned, the network said Thursday.

It has been a spring of discontent for agencies and marketers, who are upset over the rising cost of advertising on broadcast networks at a time when viewers are steadily gravitating to cable. Starting Monday, the networks, in an unprecedented alliance, will strike back with a campaign that sticks up for broadcast and belittles cable's reach.

He's brand new as chief programmer at ABC, but Stephen McPherson is hardly a stranger to the beleaguered network's slate of existing and forthcoming shows. After all, he oversaw development of most of them -- the winners and the losers.