Redskins owner Snyder to invest in Cruise’s films
A group led by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder has agreed to invest in the film-production company set up by Tom Cruise after Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures said it was terminating the actor’s contract.
First and Goal LLC will provide development and overhead financing to Cruise/Wagner Productions, the companies said Monday in a statement. Terms of the two-year deal weren’t disclosed.
The agreement makes good on attempts by Cruise, 44, to find private backing to replace a 14-year relationship with Paramount. Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone said he was ending Paramount’s contract with Cruise because the actor’s behavior was unacceptable. Cruise’s attorney, Bert Fields, said he advised his client months earlier not to renew.
Principals in First and Goal include Dwight Schar, chairman of homebuilder NVR Inc., and Mark Shapiro, president and chief executive of theme-park operator Six Flags Inc. Snyder is chairman of Six Flags.
Cruise will be free to work with any studio, according to the statement. He created Cruise/Wagner with his producing partner, Paula Wagner.
Julie Polkes, a spokeswoman for Cruise/Wagner with Creative Artists Agency, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
ONEONTA, N.Y.
Soccer Hall of Fame inducts Anschutz
Denver financier Philip An schutz may never kick a goal for any of the four Major League Soccer teams operated by his Anschutz Entertainment Group. But on Monday, he was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Anschutz was a founding investor/operator in Major League Soccer and runs the Los Angeles Galaxy, D.C. United, the Chicago Fire and Houston Dynamo. He also received the National Soccer Medal of Honor for his contributions to the sport in the U.S.
LONGMONT
Cornice cuts workers here, hires overseas
Hard-disk drive maker Cornice Inc. said it has reduced its workforce in the state but hired people to handle sales and marketing work overseas.
The company wouldn’t say how many employees were affected by the move. As of June, Cornice employed 208 and was looking to add 50 engineers by the end of the year.
DENVER
Auto Bond insurance invalid in Colorado
Colorado drivers with auto-insurance policies from the Global Healings Society, also known as the Auto Bond, lack valid insurance coverage, the state Division of Insurance warned Monday.
The division issued an emergency cease-and-desist order against the Puyallup, Wash.- based society after a consumer complained that Global Healings failed to pay her claim.
Global Healings, which conducts business over the Internet, is not licensed to do insurance business in the state and has not responded to division inquiries.
BROOMFIELD
Vail to sell Four Pack to Keystone, A-Basin
Vail Resorts announced Monday it will sell a Four Pack valid for four days of skiing at Keystone and Arapahoe Basin for $99.
Skiers and snowboarders also will have until Sept. 4 to buy Vail season passes at last spring’s prices. Beginning Sept. 5, the adult Colorado Pass will increase $20 to $399 and the Buddy Pass will go up to $349. Prices are guaranteed through Oct. 15.
DENVER
ap awards execs bonuses
ap Inc., the nation’s fourth-largest newspaper group and owner of The Denver Post, announced Monday it has awarded $1.88 million in bonuses to top executives in connection with the company’s recently completed acquisition of newspapers from McClatchy Co., according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Joseph J. Lodovic IV, president, was awarded $1 million. Gerald E. Grilly, executive vice president and chief operating officer, was awarded $150,000; he is retiring. Anthony F. Tierno, senior vice president of operations, was awarded $50,000. Eric. J. Grilly, president of ap Interactive, received $75,000.
DENVER
Rossi joins Greenberg Traurig as of counsel
Ronald G. Rossi, founder and managing director of Rossi & Co. PC, announced Monday he has joined Greenberg Traurig LLP’s corporate and securities practice in its Denver office as of counsel.
Rossi specializes in business structure changes, equity restructurings, leveraged buyouts, and mergers and acquisitions.
BLACK HAWK
Ameristar breaks ground on tall resort
Ameristar Casinos will hold a groundbreaking ceremony today for its 33-story, 536-room hotel resort in Black Hawk.
Expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2008, the $180 million hotel will be the tallest building between Denver and Salt Lake City, the company said.
DENVER
XP Events wins bid for NBA concessions
Denver-based XP Events announced Monday it has won a two-year contract with the National Basketball Association to oversee merchandise concessions at the next two NBA All-Star Games, to be held in Las Vegas in 2007 and New Orleans in 2008.
BROOMFIELD
MWH Global ranks high in trade journal
Broomfield-based MWH Global ranked No. 12 among the world’s top engineering design firms in an annual listing by Engineering News-Record magazine.
Of the top 25 firms performing design services for water and wastewater projects in the environmental-industry sector, MWH ranked No. 1 in several categories.
TOKYO
Jupiter telecom ups stake in Cable West
Jupiter Telecommunications Co., a Japanese unit of John Malone’s Liberty Global Inc., will pay $405 million for control of a cable unit controlled by Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. to expand in western Japan.
Jupiter, based in Tokyo, will increase its stake in Cable West Inc. to 73.6 percent from 8.6 percent, the companies said.
