Hong Kong – Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Monday that the American economy might slip into recession by year’s end.
He said the U.S. economy has been expanding since 2001 and that there are signs the current economic cycle is coming to an end.
“When you get this far away from a recession, invariably forces build up for the next recession, and indeed we are beginning to see that sign,” Greenspan said via satellite link to a business conference in Hong Kong. “For example, in the U.S., profit margins … have begun to stabilize, which is an early sign we are in the later stages of a cycle.
“While, yes, it is possible we can get a recession in the latter months of 2007, most forecasters are not making that judgment and indeed are projecting forward into 2008 … with some slowdown.”
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DOUGLAS COUNTY
Satellite-TV firms settle Net-search fight
Douglas County-based Echo Star Communications Corp. and DirecTV Group Inc., the largest U.S. satellite-television service, said they settled a dispute over the use of each other’s name in Internet search terms.
Each agreed to stop using the other company’s trademarks to trigger favorable links on search results, according to a joint statement. They could resume the practice if Congress or the Supreme Court deems it legal, the companies said. Other terms of the accord weren’t released.
DENVER
Qwest, USA Hockey sign sponsorship deal
Qwest has signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with USA Hockey, a spokesman for the organization said Monday.
Qwest will be the official sponsor for the U.S. women’s national team and will have its logo on the team’s jerseys, said Lee Meyer, director of marketing for USA Hockey. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
BOULDER
Wild Oats doubles pay of interim CEO
Wild Oats Markets disclosed Monday it has increased the monthly pay to interim chief executive Gregory Mays from $50,000 per month to $100,000 per month, effective Feb. 1.
The natural-goods grocer also said it planned to award Mays a $750,000 cash bonus upon the completion of the previously announced merger with Whole Foods Market, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NEW YORK
Adelphia bondholders stay defiant in filing
A group of Adelphia Communications Corp. bondholders said the fact that the company has emerged from bankruptcy and is distributing assets doesn’t mean an appeal of the Greenwood Village-based company’s payment plan is futile.
Forcing creditors to return money or other assets if courts later determine they received the payments in error won’t be impossible, lawyers for the bondholders wrote in a filing Friday.
PORTLAND, Maine
Founder quits board of American Skiing
American Skiing Co. announced Monday that Leslie Otten, the former chief executive and company founder, has resigned from its board of directors.
Otten’s resignation comes amid speculation that Utah- based American Skiing may be looking to sell its Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA ski resorts in Maine. American Skiing this month announced it was selling all its Vermont and New Hampshire resorts, leaving it with just three ski areas – Sugarloaf and Sunday River in Maine, and the Canyons in Utah.
The company also said it would sell its Steamboat resort in December.
GILLETTE, Wyo.
New pipeline eases natural-gas backlog
A new pipeline carrying natural gas through Wyoming has helped alleviate the backlog in the state, resulting in higher prices, according to the Wyoming Pipeline Authority.
Since the first leg of the Rockies Express Pipeline, from Wamsutter to the Cheyenne Hub, began carrying gas Feb. 14, the price of Wyoming natural gas has risen by 50 cents per million cubic feet, according to Brian Jeffries, executive director of the Wyoming Pipeline Authority.
DENVER
Biotech-grants bill closer to House OK
A bill that would provide $2.5 million in matching grants to Colorado research institutions working on bioscience and biofuel technologies passed an initial House vote Monday.
House Bill 1060, sponsored by Rep. Jim Riesberg, D-Greeley, must still pass a final House vote before going to the Senate.
BRUSSELS, Belgium
Liberty Global wins approval for EU deal
Douglas County-based Liberty Global Inc., the largest owner of cable-television systems outside the U.S., secured European Union antitrust approval to take control of Telenet Group Holding NV.
The European Commission, the 27-nation EU’s antitrust regulator in Brussels, announced the approval Monday.
LAS VEGAS
Station Casinos OKs sale for $5.4 billion
Station Casinos Inc. said Monday it agreed to be acquired by a private-equity investor group that includes members of its founding family for about $5.4 billion.
The group known as Fertitta Colony Partners LLC offered $90 per share for the Las Vegas-based company, an 8 percent premium over its closing price of $83.30 a share Friday.
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Feds nix loan request for coal-train project
The Federal Railroad Administration has denied a $2.3 billion federal loan for the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad’s planned coal-train project.
The DM&E wanted to add track to the Powder River Basin coal fields in Wyoming and upgrade its existing line in South Dakota and Minnesota.
BASKING RIDGE, N.J.
Verizon stops spam to wireless customers
Verizon Wireless won a permanent injunction against a company that sent nearly 100,000 unsolicited text messages to the wireless carrier’s customers.
The ruling bars Florida-based Specialized Programming and Marketing LLC and its owner, Charles Henderson, from sending any more unsolicited messages to Verizon’s subscribers.
