BOULDER – Wild Oats Markets Inc. said Wednesday that chief financial officer Robert Dimond has resigned “to pursue another opportunity.” Dimond’s resignation takes effect Dec. 31.
Interim chief executive Gregory Mays will oversee the company’s finance and accounting departments until a replacement is named. Mays has been filling the chief executive role on an interim basis since chief executive Perry Odak resigned in late October.
DENVER
DazBog Coffee to open shop at DIA
Denver-based DazBog Coffee said Wednesday that it will open a franchise location on Concourse C at Denver International Airport. Concessions International LLC will operate the coffee shop, which is expected to open in the summer.
BOSTON
Denver firm to work on convention deal
The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau announced Wednesday a new business and marketing partnership with Denver-based Weaver Multimedia Group.
Weaver will be in charge of expanding the Boston Convention Bureau’s visitor and meetings publications programs.
NEW YORK
NYSE approves Euronext purchase
NYSE Group Inc. shareholders approved the $14.6 billion purchase of Euronext NV, paving the way for the creation of the first transatlantic securities market. The deal is scheduled to close in three months after European regulators and the Dutch Finance Ministry gave conditional approval.
NYSE Euronext will list companies with a total market value of $25.8 trillion, ranging from General Electric Co. to Sanofi- Aventis SA, and handle about $100 billion in equity transactions a day along with options and futures.
PHILADELPHIA
Gaming board snubs in-state casino deal
The Pennsylvania gaming board voted unanimously Wednesday to award Pittsburgh’s only slot-machine casino license to Detroit-based developer Don H. Barden’s PITG Gaming, rather than Pennsylvania Penguins-supported Isle of Capri Casinos.
Isle of Capri was committed to building a $290 million arena next to the casino, at no team or taxpayer expense, if it obtained the slots license.
The Penguins were discouraged by the rejection of the Isle of Capri proposal, which came less than a week after Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie pulled out of a seemingly completed $175 million deal to buy the 40-year-old franchise. Balsillie apparently was scared off by the NHL’s insistence that he couldn’t move the club if the Isle of Capri proposal was rejected.
DULUTH, Ga.
Innotrac news release proves “totally false”
A news release heralding a major contract win that led investors to bid up shares of a small Georgia-based outsourcing company Wednesday was “totally false,” the company said.
A statement released over PRNewswire Wednesday morning before markets opened said Duluth, Ga.-based Innotrac Corp. had signed a “multiyear, multimillion-dollar” contract with German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG. But less than three hours later, Innotrac denied issuing the release.
SAN JOSE, Calif.
Ericsson plans buyout of broadband firm
LM Ericsson’s plan to buy Redback Networks Inc. for $2.1 billion is a sign of how the popularity of Internet video is expected to drive demand for broadband network upgrades.
Analysts said Wednesday that the acquisition also plugs a key hole in Ericsson’s product line as the company girds itself for an increasingly fierce battle with rivals Cisco Systems Inc., Alcatel-Lucent and Juniper Networks Inc.
NEW YORK
Oil prices rise after drop in inventories
Oil prices rose Wednesday after U.S. inventories dropped more than expected, but bullish sentiment was tempered by expectations that stocks will rebound once fog lifts in the Gulf Coast and shipping there returns to normal.
Light sweet crude for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 26 cents to settle at $63.72 a barrel in New York trading.
On the ICE Futures exchange in London, Brent crude settled at $63.23, up 42 cents. U.S. crude inventories plunged by 6.3 million barrels last week from the previous week, the Department of Energy reported Wednesday, much lower than analysts’ expectations of a drop between 1.8 million barrels and 2 million barrels.
PALO ALTO, Calif.
Ex-eBay executive to head Silicon startup
A former executive at online auctioneer eBay Inc. has come out of a short-lived retirement to take a job leading Silicon Valley startup LiveOps, which contracts with companies to handle customer service and sales calls.
Maynard Webb, 51, left his position as eBay’s chief operating officer in August after seven years with the company.
