Online-gaming concern buys assets of Tucson’s Octopi
Looking to hook people who want to play games like Tetris and fantasy sports on their cellphones, a subsidiary of United Kingdom-based Fun Technologies Inc. has bought Tucson-based Octopi LLC’s assets for about $6 million.
Douglas County-based Liberty Media is buying a 51 percent stake in Fun, an online-gaming company, in a $195 million deal expected to close March 8, said James Lanthier, Fun’s chief financial officer.
Fun didn’t want to wait until the Liberty deal closed before buying Octopi, Lanthier said, since the online-gaming market is growing at 30 percent per quarter. Users pay a monthly fee to play games on their cellphones, Lanthier said.
“Having a group like Octopi help us extend our platforms onto the mobile realm is really important to our overall growth strategy,” Lanthier said.
Games of skill that have taken off include poker, blackjack, word puzzles and the number game sudoku. Fun Technologies has 9 million registered users.
JEFFERSON COUNTY
Lockheed wins Navy intelligence contract
Lockheed Martin Corp., the largest U.S. defense company, won a contract to upgrade the U.S. Navy’s network for sharing intelligence information. The project team is based at the Deer Creek facility in Jefferson County, Lockheed spokeswoman Suzanne Smith said.
The two-year award is valued at as much as $8 million, according to Mark Grablin, director of the Bethesda, Md.-based company’s intelligence and surveillance systems unit.
DENVER
Tax-fraud promoter sentenced to prison
Convicted tax-fraud promoter Paul D. Harris was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 5 1/2 years in prison and three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay more than $10,000 toward the cost of his prosecution.
A federal jury in April convicted Harris, of Elizabeth, and Lester R. Retherford, of Cañon City, of conspiring to defraud the United States and assisting in the preparation of a fraudulent income tax return. Retherford was sentenced in December to four years in prison and three years of supervised release.
Prosecutors said the men set up shell corporations for their clients that were used to conceal nearly $9 million in taxable income. Nine clients were convicted on tax offenses. Robert N. Bedford, who was indicted with Harris and Retherford, is scheduled to go on trial later this year.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Dish chief to unveil family-TV package
EchoStar Communications Corp. founder and chairman Charlie Ergen will announce a family-oriented package of channels for Dish Network today when he testifies at a congressional hearing on decency in broadcasting in Washington, D.C. Date, pricing and channel lineup of the family package are expected to be announced during Ergen’s testimony.
DENVER
State’s casinos see Dec. revenue drop
Colorado’s mountain casinos posted a 3.9 percent drop in revenue in December compared with the same period a year earlier. The state’s 46 casinos reported adjusted gross proceeds (total wagers minus payouts) of $57.4 million in December, down from $59.7 million in 2004.
Black Hawk’s 21 casinos posted adjusted gross proceeds of $41.5 million, down from $42.9 million. Cripple Creek’s 19 casinos reported revenue of $10.9 million, down from $11.6 million, and Central City’s six casinos posted $5 million, down from $5.2 million.
THORNTON
Ultimate buys chain’s headquarters site
Thornton-based Ultimate Acquisition Partners, which purchased the retail operations of bankrupt Ultimate Electronics, has purchased the site of the chain’s headquarters at Interstate 25 and West 84th Avenue.
The property was sold in a bankruptcy auction in November. Company president and chief operating office Randy Baumberger confirmed last week that the company closed on the site.
DENVER
PJ party/benefit celebrates new hotel
Denver-based companies Sage Hospitality Resources and Shames-Makovsky Realty Co. will open the $44 million, 229- room Residence Inn by Marriott at 17th and Champa streets in downtown today.
To celebrate, the hotel will host an invitation-only pajama party benefiting the Denver Commission to End Homelessness.
PHILADELPHIA
Comcast offers exercise-on-demand
Tapping into America’s love-hate relationship with exercise, Comcast Corp. has launched exercisetv – the first video-on-demand network dedicated to fitness, the company said Wednesday.
NEW YORK
Adelphia creditors oppose exit plan
A group of Adelphia Communications Corp. creditors said it would oppose the cable operator’s plan to exit bankruptcy because it fails to release its members from a lawsuit and pay sufficient interest on their claims.
The creditor group, which is owed more than $2.2 billion, asked a federal judge for permission to inform other Adelphia creditors of its position on the proposed reorganization plan. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber will consider approval of the plan in February. Greenwood Village-based Adelphia is seeking approval of a plan to exit bankruptcy.
RICHMOND, Va.
BlackBerry says public safety at stake
Research In Motion Ltd. says its BlackBerry e-mail device is so critical that a court-ordered shutdown of U.S. service could threaten public safety and business productivity.
The Canadian company is trying to avoid a possible injunction, the result of a long-running infringement case won by NTP Inc., a tiny patent-holding firm. In a filing Tuesday in federal court in Richmond, RIM argued that there is “exceptional public interest” in keeping BlackBerrys beeping.
SAN FRANCISCO
Unhappy investors cut Yahoo stock
Investors whipped Yahoo Inc. Wednesday for missing analysts’ fourth-quarter earnings target, raising worries about a similar backlash later this month if online search engine rival Google Inc. doesn’t meet Wall Street’s lofty expectations.
Shares of Yahoo fell 12.3 percent, or $4.93, to close at $35.18. Other Internet stocks fell after the report. Google’s shares declined $22.20, to $444.91.
