Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Business briefs, February 6

Published February 6, 2007 at midnight

Text size  

More More Business

More stories »

NATIONAL

DaimlerChrysler to ax 10,000 hourly jobs in restructuring

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler arm plans to slash at least 10,000 hourly jobs and close plants in Newark, Del., and Detroit, according to a newspaper report.

The Detroit News reported Monday that the cuts will be disclosed when the German-American automaker makes public its restructuring plan Feb. 14. It cited unidentified people familiar with the plan, dubbed Project X.

BILLIONAIRE TARGETS LEAR Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is seeking to acquire Lear Corp. for about $2.75 billion, the latest move by a private-equity player to make inroads in the auto- parts sector. However, his proposal met quick opposition from a major Lear shareholder.

UNITED PASSENGER TRAFFIC UP United Airlines' passenger traffic rose nearly 2 percent in January as it filled more seats on its planes than a year earlier.

Its load factor - a measure of how full its planes are - hit 78 percent, United's highest mark ever for January. UAL Corp.'s United said it paid off $972 million of the borrowings it used to exit bankruptcy a year ago and refinanced the remaining $2 billion, reducing interest cost.

HALO 3 RELEASE DATE Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, plans to release the next edition in its top- selling Halo video-game franchise in November, according to a listing on Costco Wholesale Corp.'s Web site.

Costco.com is allowing customers to preorder copies of Halo 3, a shooting game in which players battle an alien race to save humankind, for delivery in November, the Web site said.

SEARS APPEALS VERDICT Sears Holdings Corp. said Monday it would appeal a jury verdict ordering the retailer to pay bondholders about $73.5 million in a case stemming from Sears' redemption of bonds after it sold a credit-card business.

Sears said it would take a fourth-quarter after-tax charge of $44 million, or 29 cents a share, to cover the verdict.

SIMPSON AD BLOCKED A judge on Monday blocked DirecTV from airing advertisements in which Jessica Simpson and William Shatner say its high-definition television service provides better pictures than Time Warner Cable's high-definition service.

"It's broadcast in 1080i," Simpson says in her DirecTV ad. "I totally don't know what that means, but I want it."

HARLEY, UNION TO MEET Harley-Davidson Inc. and the union representing striking workers at its largest manufacturing plant plan to meet today with a federal mediator in hopes of ending a walkout, spokesmen for the union and the company said Monday.

Nearly 2,800 unionized employees have been on strike since Friday after they overwhelmingly rejected the company's contract proposal last week.

REDSTONE SUIT SETTLED Media mogul Sumner Redstone, the chairman and controlling shareholder of both CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., has settled a potentially embarrassing lawsuit filed by his son.

Brent Redstone, a lawyer living in Colorado, had sued his father claiming he had been cut out of the decision-making process at National Amusements Inc., a privately held company that owns a majority of the voting stock of CBS and Viacom as well as more than 1,400 theaters in the United States and overseas.

Viacom spokesman Carl Folta said the lawsuit had been settled but said the two sides had agreed to keep the details confidential.

LOCAL

Crocs founder reports $85,000 watch stolen

Crocs founder and former CEO George Boedecker reported his $85,000 watch was missing as police questioned him about allegedly harassing customers at the Hapa Sushi Grill, 1117 Pearl St. in Boulder, on Feb. 3, according to a release from Boulder police.

Police said officers were called to that location on a report of a disturbance and staff there indicated that Boedecker was harassing customers.

Boedecker told officers that his watch had been stolen and he believed the man he was accused of harassing was the one who took it, according to the report.

Officers did not find the watch or any indication that there had been any interaction between Boedecker and the other man before the confrontation.

Police said no one wanted to pursue charges against Boedecker for harassment.

ID READER BEING TESTED A Westminster company that provides embedded radio frequency identification reader technology is involved in a project aimed at helping the military track casualties and medical resources.

SkyeTek Inc.'s RFID technology will be in handheld readers that the military wants to test.

RHUMBA SHUTS DOWN Boulder Caribbean restaurant Rhumba will close today. Owner Dave Query is closing the restaurant at 950 Pearl St. for about a month and plans to reopen it under a different concept.

DISCOVERY SHAKEUP Discovery Networks CEO David Zaslav on Monday announced an executive shakeup. U.S. President Billy Campbell and the general managers of Animal Planet Media and TLC are among those leaving.

Discovery is 50 percent owned by Discovery Holdings, a spinoff of John Malone's Liberty Media, and Advance Communications and Cox Communications each own 25 percent.

HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES The Colorado Business Hall of Fame will induct five members Wednesday.

The business leaders are: Herb Bacon, Grand Junction banker; Henry Cordes Brown, builder of the Brown Palace; Al Cohen, Colorado builder; John Fuller, founder of Fuller Real Estate; and Ralph Peterson, chairman and CEO of CH2M Hill.

DIGITALGLOBE LANDS DEAL DigitalGlobe said its AirPhotoUSA unit has landed a contract from the U.S. Geological Survey to provide high-resolution aerial photos. Terms weren't disclosed.

AIRLINE EXANDS IN SPRINGS ExpressJet Airlines will invest more than half a million dollars in Colorado Springs as it ramps up operations there, a move that could boost passenger traffic by an estimated 7.4 percent.

The Houston-based carrier is launching new nonstop service from Colorado Springs to the Los Angeles area, San Diego and Sacramento, Calif.

ECONOMY

Rate of service-sector growth increases

The U.S. service sector expanded at a faster rate in January than in the previous month, a trade group said Monday, signaling a strong start to economic growth this year.

The Institute for Supply Management, which is based in Tempe, Ariz., said its index of business activity in the service sector advanced to 59 in January from 56.7 in December. Wall Street analysts had expected a reading of 57 for the latest month.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while one below that indicates contraction.

January marked the 46th consecutive month of business activity increase, the trade group said.

The service industries covered by the ISM report represent about 80 percent of the nation's economic activity, and economists are looking for the sector to be a driver of growth in 2007.

The services employment index, meanwhile, moved down to 51.7 in January from 53.2 in December.

Growth industries included utilities and health care and social assistance.

Industries with decreased activity included retail trade and construction.

THIS JUST IN...

• Janet Etchart, apprentice at MorningStar Assisted Living of Littleton, was awarded a Presidential Medallion for Excellence by the American Culinary Foundation.

• Broomfield-based Ball Corp. named Michael W. Feldser president of Ball Metal Food and Household Products Packaging Division, Americas, effective April 1.

• BonaKemi USA, headquartered in Aurora, raised more than $29,000 to support local nonprofits including Growing Home, Cops Fighting Cancer, Friends of St. Andrew, Lost and Found, Special Olympics, Ronald McDonald House Denver, Denver Rescue Mission, Food Bank of the Rockies and License to Dream.

• JF Companies Inc., headed by Denver real estate investors Joel Farkas and Chris Paulson, has sold its 3,000-acre Trillium development west of Phoenix. The sale price wasn't released.

• The E-470 board of directors added Frank Weddig, Arapahoe County commissioner; Melanie Worley, Douglas County commissioner; and Erik Hansen, Thornton City Council member, as representatives.

• Daniel "David" Healey has joined the business solutions unit at Broomfield-based MWH.

• The Community College of Aurora, Lowry Campus, in partnership with the Piton Foundation, is offering free tax preparation this month to families and individuals in the Denver area who receive the earned income tax credit or who earn less than $40,000 a year. Services are available from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and noon to 8 p.m. this Friday on the Lowry Campus. For more information dial the 211 call center at the Mile High United Way.

• Assistant professor Peter McGraw of the University of Colorado, Leeds School of Business, was named one of the nation's top young scholars by the Marketing Science Institute.

• David York, branch manager for Manpower in Denver, was named to Manpower's Circle of Stars, a national recognition program that identifies top performers in sales and customer satisfaction ratings.

• Claire McAuliffe was named director in the assurance services department at GHP Horwath PC.

• Melissa Whitmer joined Vectra Bank Colorado as a vice president of private banking.

• The Integer Group, a promotions and marketing agency, named Jennifer Bolt senior vice president of media.

• The Colorado Business Council, Colorado's gay and lesbian chamber of commerce, named Adam Crowley executive director.

Rocky staff and wire reports