Business briefs, October 25

Published October 25, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More More Business

More stories »

NATIONAL

Federal Reserve will likely pause on rate hike

Federal Reserve policymakers are likely to keep their finger on the interest-rate pause button, giving America's borrowers another break heading into the congressional elections.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his central bank colleagues opened a two-day meeting Tuesday against the backdrop of slowing economic growth and receding energy prices. Their interest rate decision will be announced today.

Microsoft's Zune won't touch iPod, report says

Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod will dominate the digital media device market in the next 12 to 18 months even as Microsoft Corp. introduces a competing music player, according to a JupiterResearch report.

The iPod won't lose "significant" sales among U.S. portable media device users, who will grow from 37 million this year to 102 million in 2011, JupiterResearch said. The company forecast the total number of players in use in the U.S. to rise to 196 million in 2011 from 62 million.

Microsoft, whose strategy of working with partners has failed to produce a device with more than 10 percent of the market, is releasing its own player later this year called Zune.

Report: Clear Channel mulling going private

Shares of Clear Channel Communications Inc. jumped as much as 2.8 percent after CNBC reported the company's founding family is considering offers to go private.

Clear Channel is the largest U.S. radio broadcaster and owner of several Front Range stations.

The Mays family, which controls Clear Channel's board, is "warming" to the idea of a leveraged buyout, CNBC reported.

Coach drops trademark suit against Target

Coach Inc. dropped a trademark infringement suit alleging discount retailer Target Corp. sold counterfeit versions of one of its handbags.

Coach abandoned the suit because Target stopped selling the bags, Coach Chief Executive Officer Lew Frankfort said in an interview Tuesday.

Target said it won't pay damages to Coach as part of the dismissal.

LOCAL

District judge doles out sentence in tax scheme

A U.S. District Court Judge found former Fort Collins resident Austin Gary Cooper guilty of criminal contempt related to the sale and promotion of what the government called "an abusive tax scheme."

Judge Robert E. Blackburn sentenced Cooper to six months in prison for failing to comply with a permanent injuction order.

The Department of Justice had charged Cooper and his wife, Martha Cooper, with one count of criminal contempt, alledging the two did not comply with an injunction order to stop selling a program advising clients to lower federal income tax by renouncing their U.S. citizenship in favor of "American" citizenship.

The Coopers sold the package through their company Taking Back America for up to $1,600 to as many as 2,000 individuals nationwide, according to papers filed by the Justice Department.

Martha Cooper failed to appear for her initial appearance and remains a fugitive.

Teamsters get OK to hold Frontier election

Frontier Airlines flight attendants will vote next month on whether to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, marking their fifth recent opportunity to unionize.

The Teamsters has received federal approval to hold an election after submitting authorization cards from at least 35 percent of Frontier's roughly 900 eligible flight attendants.

The union said it typically won't file for approval to hold an election unless it has the support of at least 65 percent of eligible workers. The election starts Nov. 7, and ballots will be counted Nov. 30.

Crocs buys Italian maker of Vinyl products

Niwot-based Crocs Inc. has acquired EXO Italia, S.r.l for an undisclosed amount, the shoemaker said Tuesday.

The company, based in Padova, Italy, designs and makes Ethylene Vinyl Acetate-based products, primarily for the footwear industry, Crocs said in a press release.

Trio to be inducted into Tourism Hall of Fame

The Tourism Hall of Fame will induct three new members at its annual dinner on Nov. 30.

The inductees are:

• Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, who has been involved in everything from Denver International Airport to the expanded Denver Art Museum.

• The lodging industry's Ilene Kamsler, who has served as head of the Colorado Hotel & Lodging Association since 1986.

• Jack Vickers, who founded the International Golf Tournament and Castle Pines Golf Club.

Vineyards sold for $2.8 million in auction

Grande River Vineyards sold for $2.8 million at a live auction Tuesday in Palisade.

About 81 acres - at a price of about $34,000 an acre - sold to six different buyers at a two-hour sale attended by bidders from Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

The J.P. King Auction Co. said it did not know how many of the buyers would continue to grow grapes on the land.

No final decision had been reached on the sale of the winery facility itself, which sits on 10 acres.

ECONOMY

Freddie Mac portfolio falls at 7.7% rate

Freddie Mac, the second-largest provider of funds for U.S. home loans, said its portfolio of mortgage assets contracted at a 7.7 percent annual rate in September to $702.4 billion, the fifth straight monthly drop.

The contraction was at a slightly faster pace than the 6.8 percent rate of decline in August, which Freddie Mac then blamed on the narrower gap between what it can earn on the mortgage assets that it buys and the cost of its debt.

That trend continued into September, the McLean, Va.- based company said. The $4.53 billion contraction last month stemmed from "continued tightness in mortgage-to-debt spreads," said Heather McElrath, a Freddie Mac spokeswoman.

Freddie Mac owns or guarantees almost 20 percent of the $10 trillion U.S. residential mortgage market.

Overall, the company's mortgage assets have fallen at a 1.4 percent annual pace so far this year compared to an 8.7 percent gain for all of last year, the company said.

THIS JUST IN . . .

• Vail Capital Partners, a Vail-based private equity firm focused on luxury, resort second-home real estate development, hired Scott Smith as a principal and associate project manager for the firm.

• Superior-based Newmerix, a provider of application lifecycle management software for enterprise applications, named Dan Gannon president and CEO.

• Point B Solutions Group LLP, a professional services firm, added four senior consultants to its Denver practice: Steve Dzengelewski, Jason Hayes, Jason Skurcenski and Kelly Martin.

• Axia College, a new college within the University of Phoenix, will offer an online associate's degree program to students in Denver and Colorado Springs. Degrees are offered in accounting, business, criminal justice, health administration and information technology, as well as general studies.

• Denver-based Cadre Technologies, which provides warehouse management and supply chain technology, said Chris Scherpenseel has been appointed CEO of the company and Charles Cape has been named vice president of professional services.

• The board of governors of Denver-based Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. on Tuesday announced the appointment of Don I. Tharpe as interim chief executive officer. The announcement came during the board's meeting in Nashville, Tenn. Tharpe has previously served as president and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

• Merlin International, a federal IT provider, said it has moved from Greenwood Village to a 27,000-square-foot facility, four times the size of its previous location, at the Inverness Plaza Office Park.

• Boulder-based Camp Bow Wow, a doggy day-care operator, said it has sold its 150th franchise.

• The National Small Business Association seeks nominations for its 2007 Small Business Advocate of the Year. The deadline for Colorado nominations is Nov. 17. Information: nsba.biz/award.

• Level 3 Communications plans to raise $400 million of new senior notes due 2014 in a proposed private offering to "qualified institutional buyers."

Compiled from News staff, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Scripps Howard News Service.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News