A new AT&T customer center in Pueblo was dedicated Wednesday. The call center opened in December and already has 400 employees.
AT&T said the center, located on the Arkansas Riverwalk in downtown Pueblo, is expected to employ more than 500 workers by the end of this year.
The city of Pueblo last year approved $5.6 million in incentives to help fund the call center, which will assist wireless customers in 10 Western states. The AT&T wireless customers were Cingular customers prior to a recent name change.
“We are very excited to have AT&T become the first major business on our Riverwalk,” said Mike Occhiato, president of Pueblo’s City Council, in a written statement. “Pueblo’s economic picture continues to improve and we are enthusiastic and energized by AT&T’s contribution to that turnaround.”
AT&T, with more than 57 million subscribers nationwide, has spent $160 million over the past two years to upgrade its wireless network in Colorado and is planning to launch a new high-speed network in the state this year.
Additional business news briefs:
NEW YORK
Replidyne loses partner on antibiotic
Forest Laboratories Inc. pulled out of an agreement to jointly develop an experimental antibiotic with Louisville-based Replidyne Inc.
Replidyne said in a statement Wednesday it will continue work on the drug to fight skin and respiratory infections.
Forest Labs said in a separate statement that it determined not to pursue further development of faropenem after the Food and Drug Administration in October declined to approve the oral antibiotic without more studies.
DENVER
Newmont mine yields less gold than hoped
Newmont Gold Corp., the world’s third-largest producer, said the Ahafo mine in Ghana has produced less gold than planned because of power outages and because ore extracted contained less metal than expected.
Ahafo has produced 203,000 ounces since production began in July, slightly less than expected, Bill Zisch, Denver-based Newmont’s vice president of Africa operations, said Wednesday in an interview in Cape Town, South Africa.
NEW YORK
Adelphia seeks OK to give retention pay
Greenwood Village-based Adelphia Communications Corp. and its creditors have asked a bankruptcy judge to approve a $5.2 million retention plan to keep key accounting personnel on board while its Chapter 11 reorganization plan has been put on hold.
The request comes shortly after a federal judge halted Adelphia’s emergence from bankruptcy, ceding to a group of dissident bondholders who appealed the reorganization plan’s confirmation.
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Western Union forms Canada, Latin units
The Western Union Co. announced Wednesday it has created two new business groups focused on the U.S.-Canada and Latin America-Mexico-Caribbean regions.
Liz Alicea-Velez becomes a member of the executive committee as executive vice president of the newly formed Latin America-Mexico-Caribbean organization. David Barnes, executive vice president, assumes the leadership of the newly formed U.S.-Canada group.
DENVER
Honorees announced for excellence in arts
Mayor John Hickenlooper, the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs and the Denver Commission on Cultural Affairs on Wednesday announced the 2006 recipients of the Mayor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts. The 2006 honorees are Fiesta Colorado, PlatteForum and Dianne Perry Vanderlip.
The awards will be presented Feb. 27 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.
Aquila selling off electric, gas utilities
Utility operator Aquila Inc. said Wednesday it will sell its assets to Great Plains Energy Inc. and Black Hills Corp. in separate transactions.
Rapid City, S.D.-based Black Hills will purchase Aquila’s electric utility in Colorado and its gas utilities in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa for about $940 million in cash.
NEW YORK
Buffett rumors lift N.Y. Times Co. shares
Shares of New York Times Co. rose 3.8 percent on speculation that billionaire investor Warren Buffett is buying shares of newspaper companies, traders said.
“I’m hearing from traders that Buffett is looking at newspaper stocks,” said David Nelson, who runs a hedge fund and manages $29 million as chief executive of DC Nelson Asset Management in New York.
WASHINGTON
Wal-Mart execs join chorus for health care
Executives from Wal-Mart and three other large U.S. employers on Wednesday joined union leaders in calling for “quality, affordable” health care for every American by 2012. They did not propose specific policies or commit to spending any extra money in the near term to provide health coverage to more workers.
CHICAGO
Equity Office moving into Blackstone’s fold
Blackstone Group LP won the bidding contest for Equity Office Properties Trust after shareholders approved the $39 billion purchase in the biggest leveraged buyout ever.
Equity Office investors approved the $55.50-a-share cash offer Wednesday after Vornado Realty Trust abandoned its bid.
WASHINGTON
Fannie Mae ex-CEO won’t get quick trial
A judge on Wednesday rejected former Fannie Mae chief executive Franklin Raines’ request that the government be compelled to begin a trial this month on administrative charges that he manipulated the company’s earnings. Accelerating such an extensive case “would be nothing short of an absurdity,” administrative law Judge William Moran said at a conference.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.
Google stock sale may garner $1.53 billion
YouTube Inc. founders and investors may reap as much as $1.53 billion by selling Google Inc. stock they received when the video-sharing website was bought last year. YouTube investors and executives including Chad Hurley and Steve Chen registered to sell 3.23 million shares, Google said Wednesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
