New Viacom shares go up, CBS’ fall in advance of split
Viacom Inc.’s new shares began trading this week, giving investors the first chance to value the two companies that will be created when Viacom splits next year.
Shares of the new Viacom, which will own MTV Networks, have risen 9.6 percent from its opening price Monday and CBS Corp., owner of the CBS television network, have fallen 14.1 percent. The shares will trade on a “when-issued” basis until Viacom, the No. 3 U.S. media company, completes the division in January.
The share moves may help buttress Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone’s argument that the New York-based company’s faster-growing assets are being held back by CBS. The new Viacom will also own Paramount Pictures. The decline in CBS’ stock reflects concern about the prospects for its slower-growing businesses, such as Infinity and publisher Simon & Schuster.
New Viacom, which began trading at $40.50 on Monday, rose to $1.59 Tuesday to close at $44.39. CBS shares opened Monday at $30 and fell 94 cents Tuesday to close at $25.76.
DENVER
Cherry Creek Square shopping center sold
Northfield, Ill.-based Next Realty LLC has purchased the Cherry Creek Square shopping center and an adjacent parking lot in Cherry Creek North.
The property at East Third Avenue between Milwaukee and St. Paul streets is 97 percent occupied. It is the company’s first purchase in Denver.
Next Realty declined to disclose the purchase price. The property was owned by Vigoda Family Ltd., according to public records.
DENVER
Frontier improves in passenger figures
Frontier Airlines’ planes were 73.5 percent full on average in November, up from 71.3 percent a year earlier, according to the airline’s monthly traffic report.
Frontier had a 7.5 percent increase in capacity, or available seat miles, in November 2005 compared with November 2004. Traffic, measured by revenue passenger miles, increased 10.8 percent in the same period. Passenger yield, a measure of financial performance, was up 5.6 percent.
DENVER
Supplier to settle Medicare allegations
Jack Stephen Cates, owner of Boulder-based MediCenter Diabetic Supply, has entered into an agreement to settle allegations that he submitted false claims to Medicare, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Cates was required to sell MediCenter and pay more than $1.6 million to the government.
An investigation by the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services found that Cates improperly submitted claims to Medicare for diabetic supplies from 1998 to 2003. Cates admitted that the claims were inappropriately submitted but denied fraudulent intent, prosecutors said.
DENVER
Man pleads guilty in radio-equipment scam
Former Littleton resident John Mark Godard pleaded guilty to two felony counts of securities fraud in connection with a $1.39 million scam that involved soliciting investors to finance nonexistent radio equipment, the Colorado attorney general’s office said Tuesday.
Investors were promised high yields on short-term investments financing radio equipment. Godard allegedly told investors that he had contracted with a Fortune 500 company for the purchase of radio repeaters and needed investors to finance them. There were 16 victims from the Denver-Boulder area.
DENVER
T-Mobile exec named president of Ricochet
Telecommunication veteran Judi Evans is the new president of Ricochet Networks Inc., a Denver-based provider of wireless Internet access.
Evans most recently worked in T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi “hot spot” division, where she managed 5,400 program locations.
DENVER
Xcel seeks to extend home-energy aid
Xcel Energy asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Monday to extend for five years an annual, $2.6 million home-weatherization program in a continuing effort to assist low-income customers with their energy bills.
In October Xcel Energy’s president and chief executive officer Richard Kelly said that the company would seek to extend its “Energy $avings Partners Program.”
GOLDEN
Isonics lands deal for night-vision devices
Isonics, a chemical and advanced materials company, said Tuesday that it entered into a 12-month agreement with Lucent Technologies Bell Labs to develop new infrared and night vision devices.
The agreement – for an undisclosed amount – will allow Isonics to focus its efforts in the homeland security and defense industry.
BOULDER
Exabyte plans to sell 20.4 million shares
Tape-storage provider Exabyte is selling 20.4 million shares, based on documents filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sixteen firms and funds are seeking to sell shares, with four fully divesting of Exabyte. If sold at the maximum price of $1.11 per share, the registration could be worth $22.7 million. The company, which has incurred operating losses for five years, said it would not receive any proceeds from the sale.
DENVER
Apex Silver Mines closes on financing
Apex Silver Mines Limited announced Tuesday that it has closed on $225 million in financing for the development of its San Cristobal open-pit silver-zinc-lead project in southwestern Bolivia. The financing was underwritten by BNP Paribas and Barclays Capital.
NEW YORK
Scripps gains spot
in S&P 500 index
E.W. Scripps Co., the owner of 21 daily newspapers including the Rocky Mountain News and the Boulder Daily Camera, will replace Georgia-Pacific Corp., the third-largest U.S. box maker, in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index on Dec. 15.
Koch Industries Inc. agreed to buy Georgia-Pacific Corp. in a transaction expected to be completed on or about that date, S&P said in a statement online.
PHOENIX
Unions reach deal with US Airways
Unions representing passenger agents at the newly combined US Airways on Tuesday reached a preliminary deal with the airline, increasing wages as other terms are negotiated.
