Moody’s cuts Ford’s credit rating 2 levels
Ford Motor Co.’s credit rating was cut to the lowest investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, sparing the automaker a second downgrade to junk in a week.
Moody’s said it cut Ford’s rating two levels to Baa3. Standard & Poor’s last week cut Ford and General Motors Corp. debt to high-risk, high-yield status, making them the biggest companies ever to be cut to non-investment grade. Thursday’s downgrade affects about $175 billion of the automaker’s debt.
Qwest joins Net effort to cut threats to kids
Qwest Communications announced Thursday that it is working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to reduce online threats against children and families by launching an Internet safety campaign.
The Parents Safety-Net Test will provide parents and guardians with an instant tool to check their knowledge of Internet safety. The interactive test, at www.incredibleinternet.com, also provides parents with immediate feedback and steps they can take to protect their children.
Littleton Travel joins Travel Organizers
Littleton Travel Inc. has become a unit of the Denver-based Travel Organizers American Express. The companies merged their operations May 1, and Littleton Travel staff moved into Travel Organizers’ Southglenn Mall office in Centennial.
Travel Organizers is the eighth-largest travel agency in Denver in dollar volume.
Gates sees Apple’s iPod success waning
Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates says Apple Computer Corp. shouldn’t get too comfortable atop the portable music playing world.
“I don’t think the success of the iPod can continue in the long term, however good Apple may be,” the former chairman of Microsoft was quoted as telling a German newspaper Thursday.
Boutique investment bank opens office
Lane, Berry & Co. International LLC, a boutique investment bank, has opened a three-person office in Denver to pursue business in the western U.S.
Boston-based Lane Berry, founded in 2002 by former Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette managing directors Frederick C. Lane, 55, and Robert M. Berry, 39, plans to boost staffing in Denver to 10 within two years.
E-Trade discloses bid for Ameritrade
Only a few hours after online brokerage Ameritrade Holding Corp. affirmed that it was not for sale, rival E-Trade Financial Corp. disclosed it had made an unsuccessful bid for its rival.
One analyst said a company as well-run and profitable as Omaha-based Ameritrade can afford to bide its time.
“Certainly this is Ameritrade trying to take control of the situation,”said analyst Lauren Bender of Celent, a Boston-based consulting and research firm to financial services companies.
Kodak replacing CEO with No. 2 official
Eastman Kodak Co. said Wednesday it will replace its chief executive, Daniel Carp, with its No. 2 executive, Antonio Perez.
The world’s largest film manufacturer said Carp, who has been CEO since January 2000, will step down from the top post June 1 and will retire as chairman at the end of the year. Perez also will succeed him as chairman Jan. 1.
Osmotics, OnSource merger completed
OnSource Corp. has completed its merger with Osmotics Pharma Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on dermatology, oncology and infectious disease.
Pending approval from OnSource’s shareholders, the company intends to change its name and operate under the name Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals.
Ex-Morgan Stanley execs propose spinoff
The group of former Morgan Stanley executives that has waged a six-week campaign to oust chief executive Philip Purcell changed its tack, proposing that the securities firm spin off its investment bank under new leadership.
The new Morgan Stanley would be led by ex-president Robert Scott, who’s also heading the alumni group, and would bring back executives who have left the firm since a March 28 management shakeup. Purcell, 61, would remain in charge of Morgan Stanley’s Dean Witter brokerage, asset-management business and Discover credit card unit, the group said.
Treasury notes sell at 3-month-low yield
The U.S. Treasury sold $14 billion of 10-year notes at a yield of 4.22 percent, the lowest in three months.
PEOPLE: Ex-Enron exec; Steamboat photog
Daniel Boyle, a former Enron Corp. financial vice president, was sentenced to 46 months in prison for his part in a scheme to inflate company earnings – not life behind bars as the government recommended. … Steamboat Springs commercial and fine art photographer Kim Keith was accepted for membership in the American Society of Media Photographers.
