Separate Time Warner into 4 companies, Icahn proposes
New York – Financier Carl Icahn proposed Tuesday that Time Warner Inc. be broken up into four separate companies, saying the media conglomerate had been poorly managed and focused excessively on the short term.
Icahn presented the results of a study he had commissioned from Lazard Ltd., a boutique investment bank, to analysts and reporters at a news conference in midtown Manhattan.
The report concludes that decisions by Time Warner’s board have cost shareholders more than $40 billion over the past several years.
Bruce Wasserstein, the head of Lazard, said that among other problems, “Time Warner failed to nurture or invest in AOL.” He also said that “since 2002, almost every strategic decision concerning AOL has been wrong.” Wasserstein said AOL did not take advantage of its leading position in instant messaging to develop a business in the emerging area of Internet-based telephone service, among other shortcomings.
Time Warner’s deal in 2000 to be acquired by America Online led to huge problems, including accounting improprieties at AOL and a decline in the company’s share price as well as a management purge.
ARAPAHOE COUNTY
ICG Communications moves to smaller digs
In a cost-saving measure, ICG Communications has moved out of its trademark building in the Denver Tech Center, which slants toward Interstate 25, into more modest digs.
The communication company has downsized to about 250 workers, from a high of 900 workers a year and a half ago, said Matthew Erickson, vice president of marketing and product management.
BROOMFIELD
Level 3’s 4th quarter worse than expected
Level 3 Communications in Broomfield saw larger-than-expected fourth-quarter losses in its earnings report released Tuesday, even as it said it was poised for future growth after buying Tulsa, Okla.-based Wiltel Communications.
Net loss at the Internet network provider rose to $169 million from a loss of $77 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue fell to $944 million, from $1.04 billion for the fourth quarter of 2004. Sales of the company’s core communications business declined.
DENVER
Albertsons worker claims racial insults
A black Albertsons warehouse worker sued the grocery chain in Denver on Tuesday, claiming he and other employees were repeatedly subjected to racial insults.
Matthew Ricks, who works at the Albertsons warehouse at 2760 N. Tower Road in Aurora, says swastikas, racial slurs and racially offensive drawings were placed by other employees around the warehouse and that the company failed to respond adequately when notified.
An Albertsons representative said she was unaware of the suit.
DENVER
Qwest announces contract with NASA
Qwest said Tuesday it will provide a new high-speed communication infrastructure to NASA.
The former Baby Bell in 2001 won a five-year contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration worth up to $25 million. Spokeswoman Claire Mylott declined to disclose the value of the new contract, which is for optical communication services.
Qwest also announced Tuesday that Laura Sankey has been appointed vice president, marketing communications.
BROOMFIELD
Groundwork begins at retail development
Greenwood Village-based Alberta Development Partners has started groundwork on its 1.1 million-square-foot Northlands retail development at Interstate 25 and Colorado 7 in Broomfield.
Initial site work will require the relocation of an irrigation canal.
The company will host a ceremonial groundbreaking this spring, and the first phase of the project will open in summer 2007, the company said.
WASHINGTON
First Data CEO gets honor at alma mater
First Data chief executive Ric Duques and his wife, Dawn, are scheduled to cut the ribbon on a new building named after them at the George Washington University Business School today.
Duques attended the school on a basketball scholarship in the 1960s and went on to obtain an MBA degree. He has donated $5 million to the university, where he is a trustee.
DENVER
Man gets 10 years for defrauding investors
Former Littleton resident John Mark Godard was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday for defrauding 16 Colorado investors of $1.3 million. Seven investors testified at the sentencing.
Denver District Judge William Robbins also ordered Godard, 40, to pay back the money.
Godard induced investors to buy stock in his nonexistent companies, promising high yields on investments financing radio equipment, officials said.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
Denver banker gets post on Fed council
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has named Denver banker David Boyles the district’s representative on the Federal Advisory Council.
The council advises Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve Board. Boyles is the president and chief operating officer of Denver-based Centennial Bank Holdings Inc.
DENVER
Search on to replace DIA co-manager
As Denver International Airport co-manager Vicki Braunagel prepares to retire, Mayor John Hickenlooper said last week that the city has been “looking around all over the country” for another co-manager to work with Turner West or a deputy manager for the airport.
How long West stays “is something that’s always open to negotiation,” Hickenlooper said. “He, like Vicki Braunagel, has done a terrific job.”
EARNINGS
Cisco Systems down; Regal movie chain up
Cisco Systems Inc., the world’s biggest maker of networking equipment, said second-quarter profit fell on stock-option expenses. Shares rose 4.5 percent after chief executive John Chambers said orders are picking up.
Net income dropped 1.8 percent to $1.38 billion, or 22 cents a share, from $1.4 billion, or 21 cents, a year earlier, Cisco said in a statement. Sales rose 9.3 percent to $6.63 billion.
Regal Entertainment Group, the movie-theater chain controlled by Denver financier Philip Anschutz, said Tuesday that fourth-quarter profit surged 43 percent as acquisitions made last year bolstered revenue.
For the quarter ended Dec. 29, Regal reported a profit of $35.1 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $24.5 million, or 16 cents a share, a year ago.
