Anschutz group unveils plan for $1 billion L.A. complex
Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz’s Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Staples Center in Los Angeles, detailed plans Tuesday for a $1 billion, 5.5 million-square-foot sports/entertainment/residential complex that would be one of the largest developments in downtown Los Angeles’ history.
The LA Live development, scheduled for groundbreaking Thursday, will include retail, live theater, premiere movies, restaurants and housing. The company envisions it as becoming “Times Square West” and the permanent home for a variety of awards shows, with a Grammy museum that could include an annual “induction” ceremony, in addition to facilities for a major sports/entertainment broadcasting company yet to be disclosed.
LA Live would have the square footage of downtown Long Beach, dovetailing with a proposed 1,100-room, 56-story Hilton hotel adjacent to the convention center.
The group looks to use the hotel and complex as a model for its international ventures, including London’s Millennium Dome.
Mountain tops
North America’s leading ski resorts, according to Ski Magazine:
1. Deer Valley, Utah
2. Vail
3. Whistler/
Blackcomb, B.C.
4. Snowmass
5. Park City, Utah
6. Beaver Creek
7. Breckenridge
8. Aspen
9. Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
10. Sun Valley, Idaho
PARK CITY, UTAH
Deer Valley bumps Vail as top resort
Deer Valley, the resort known for pampering guests with ski porters, gourmet food and immaculately groomed slopes, was voted the best North American resort by more than 20,000 subscribers of Ski Magazine.
The Utah resort passed Colorado’s Vail for the No. 1 spot in a ranking of the top 50 resorts. Readers judged the resorts on 17 criteria, with snow and terrain just two.
Deer Valley ran strong for lodging, dining, service, lifts, after-ski entertainment and other amenities.
DENVER
Delta Petroleum buys land interest
Delta Petroleum Corp., a Denver-based independent energy- exploration and development company, agreed to pay $85 million for a 50 percent interest in 145,000 undeveloped acres of land from Savant Resources LLC, according to public documents filed Tuesday.
A majority of the land is located in Washington state’s Columbia River Basin, with a small portion in Colorado’s Piceance Basin.
Delta is “in the process of arranging financing for the acquisition,” which is expected to close on or before Sept. 30.
DENVER
Metro job vacancies rose 40% in spring
The number of unfilled jobs in the Denver metro area rose by 6,700, or 40 percent, last spring compared with a similar period a year earlier, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment said Tuesday.
The Job Vacancy Survey, which covers Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties, estimates 23,300 unfilled positions were available between April 5 and May 25, versus 16,600 in the spring of 2004.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.
Sun Microsystems restates figures to ’03
Computer and software maker Sun Microsystems Inc. has restated its financial results dating back to 2003 after it identified errors related to tax accounting.
In a regulatory disclosure Tuesday, the company said it reduced the 2005 income-tax benefit by $45 million and decreased the provision for taxes in fiscal 2003 by $45 million.
Last month, Sun wrapped up its acquisition of StorageTek.
CINCINNATI
Kroger profits jump 38% in 2nd quarter
Kroger Co., the nation’s largest traditional grocery chain, said Tuesday its second-quarter profit rose 38 percent, boosted by a rebound in Southern California stores after a costly four- month strike last year.
For the quarter ended Aug. 13, the corporate parent of King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado reported earnings of $196.5 million, or 27 cents per share, compared with $142.4 million, or 19 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Sales rose more than 6 percent to $13.9 billion, from $13 billion last year.
TEMPE, Ariz.
Investors wave in America West merger
Shareholders of America West Airlines’ parent company on Tuesday approved the carrier’s proposed merger with US Airways, one of the last milestones in the plan to wed the two geographically distinct airlines.
America West Holdings Corp. said nearly 96 percent of the total voting shares favored the deal.
This week, the judge overseeing US Airways’ bankruptcy case will hold a hearing in Virginia to consider final court approval of that carrier’s reorganization.
LOS ANGELES
Suit: Wal-Mart failed to halt labor abuses
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, was accused in a lawsuit of failing to police labor conditions at its overseas suppliers’ factories.
The International Labor Rights Fund filed the suit, which seeks to represent hundreds of thousands of workers, Tuesday in state court in Los Angeles.
It claims workers at Wal-Mart suppliers in China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Swaziland and Nicaragua were forced to work overtime without pay and in some cases were fired because they tried to organize unions.
SEATTLE
Ex-Microsoft exec may work for rival
A Washington state judge ruled Tuesday that a former Microsoft executive may work at Google in a limited capacity.
Another Microsoft executive later said his company was prepared to settle the lawsuit if the researcher’s restrictions remained in effect until next summer.
Kai-Fu Lee still cannot work on products, services or projects he worked on at Microsoft, including computer search technology, pending a trial set for January. But King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez said recruiting and staffing a Google center in China would not violate a noncompete agreement.
LOS ANGELES
Microsoft simplifying new version of Office
The next version of Microsoft Corp.’s Office software will feature simpler graphics and try to anticipate users’ tasks as the company hopes to make it easier to use, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said Tuesday.
Microsoft hopes the new features will entice users who have found it unwieldy to wade through the dozens of tool menus and other features of the software suite, which includes Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel.
