Denver – John Richardson, who will replace Oren Shaffer as Qwest’s chief financial officer April 1, will receive an annual salary of $525,000 and a bonus with a target of 150 percent of his annual salary, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.
Richardson will also receive 257,000 stock options and restricted stock valued at $977,500. If he is fired without cause, Richardson would be paid one-and-a-half times his annual salary, payable over 18 months, and a lump-sum payment of the same amount after the 18-month period.
Additional business news briefs:
AURORA
Raytheon to pursue military GPS contract
Raytheon Co. announced Wednesday that it plans to pursue a $160 million U.S. Air Force contract to upgrade the next generation Global Positioning System Control Segment.
If Waltham, Mass.-Raytheon wins the contract, most of the work will be done in Aurora, the company said.
BOULDER
Leeds School quad to be named for donors
The West Quad of the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Leeds School of Business will be named in honor of Richard and Jean Engebretson, who have pledged $1 million to the school’s expansion and renovation.
The Engebretson gift will help fund the school’s $38 million renovation/expansion project.
DENVER
Association honors Comcast’s Binder
Denver Telecom Professionals has named Scott Binder, senior vice president of Comcast Colorado, as its Executive of the Year.
The association for the communications industry honored Binder on Wednesday at its annual awards dinner at The Brown Palace Hotel.
“Scott has brought vision and innovation to Comcast and to the people of Colorado. We’re delighted to have him as our 2006 Communications Executive of the Year,” said Sue Wyman, chairman of Denver Telecom Professionals.
DENVER
DCP Midstream buying Okla. system
DCP Midstream Partners LP said Wednesday that it agreed to acquire a 225-mile natural-gas gathering system from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $180.3 million in cash.
The assets in Oklahoma have historically gathered about 25 million cubic feet of gas daily, the Denver-based company said in a statement.
PARK CITY, Utah
American Skiing may sell two Maine resorts
American Skiing Co., which less than three weeks ago announced it was selling two resorts for $73.5 million, said it may sell its Sunday River and Sugarloaf locations in Maine.
American Skiing is reviewing options for the resorts, including a possible sale, the company said Wednesday in a statement.
The company said Feb. 16 that it was selling its Mount Snow resort in Vermont and Attitash in New Hampshire to Peak Resorts Inc.
Last week, Intrawest Holdings completed its purchase of Steamboat Ski & Resort from American Skiing for $239.1 million.
HOUSTON
Exxon Mobil plans 20-plus new projects
Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. said Wednesday it will spend some of its record profits on more than 20 new global projects in the next three years, investments expected to add 1 million oil-equivalent barrels a day at peak production.
Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, also said its project inventory at the end of 2006 has the potential to develop 24 billion oil-equivalent barrels. The company produced about 4.2 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in 2006.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark.
Mobile-home dealers fear FEMA trailer sale
A year and a half after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, FEMA is auctioning off at fire-sale prices thousands of trailers used by storm victims, raising fears among mobile-home dealers that the government will flood the market and depress prices.
Mobile-home dealers are finding that some potential customers would rather wait to make a deal on a used FEMA trailer than spend $25,000 to $40,000 for a new one.
HARTFORD, Conn.
Bill would regulate minors on MySpace
Connecticut lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday that would require MySpace.com and other social-networking sites to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent before minors can post profiles.
The bill comes a day after a man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for using MySpace.com to set up a sexual encounter with an 11-year-old Connecticut girl. It was one of the first federal sex cases involving the popular site.
PALM BEACH, Fla.
Time Warner predicts digital phone signups
Time Warner Cable Inc., the second- largest U.S. cable-television company, expects to sign up 200,000 phone customers by the end of the year in the systems it bought from Greenwood Village-based Adelphia Communications Corp.
“We plan to have launched digital phone in all our acquired properties by the end of the year,” Time Warner Cable chief financial officer John Martin said at a Bear Stearns Cos. conference in Palm Beach, Fla.
SEOUL, South Korea
Move will speed return of U.S. beef
South Korea said today that it will lower its quarantine standards this month over banned bone fragments in American beef shipments, paving the way for the nation to resume U.S. beef imports.
South Korea agreed to resume imports of U.S. beef last year following a three-year ban triggered by fears of mad cow disease.
