Copyright 2000 The Denver Post Corporation
The
Denver Post
November 29, 2000 Wednesday 2D EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C-02
LENGTH: 1286 words
HEADLINE:
BRIEFING
BODY:
Local
LEVEL 3 SNAGS
LUCRATIVE CONTRACTS: Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications
announced Tuesday it recently signed deals for network capacity and
services valued at $ 700 million, boosting its value of contracts
landed this year to more than $ 2 billion. Level 3 will collect the
revenue over the course of the agreements, which extend from 15 to 20
years. Among the new deals are additional orders from McLeodUSA Inc.
and a revised order from XO Communications Inc. XO had agreed earlier
this year to lease capacity valued at $ 306 million but recently
signed a definitive agreement valued at more than $ 163 million. (The
Denver Post)
QWEST GUIDELINES SET: Regulators in 13 states
recently approved a plan outlining the guidelines they will use
when assessing whether Qwest Communications International has
opened its markets to competitors. After 11 months of
negotiations, public utilities commissioners, Qwest and competing
phone carriers approved the plan this month. Under the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, Qwest and other Baby
Bells must demonstrate they have accepted competition before
regulators allow them to offer long-distance services within their
home territories. (The Denver Post) TELETECH GAINS BANK CLIENT: TeleTech
Holdings Inc., a provider of customer-management and
business-to-business infrastructure services, announced Tuesday an
exclusive, long-term agreement with Commonwealth Bank of Australia's
European Banking Division in London. TeleTech's service
representatives will work with CBA to sell and service the bank's
mortgage offerings. Under the agreement, Denver-based TeleTech will
also provide product sales and front-end operations support. (The
Denver Post)
FRONTIER EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS: Denver-based Frontier
Airlines said Tuesday it expects earnings for the current quarter to
beat analyst estimates by at least 70 percent because of
increased passenger traffic. The company said earnings per share for
the quarter ending Dec. 31 will be 46 cents to 54 cents. (Bloomberg)
SUBSCRIPTION LULL COSTS ECHOSTAR: Shares of
EchoStar Communications Corp., the No. 2 U.S. satellite broadcaster,
fell 11 percent on concern that growth in subscriptions to its
service will slow, an analyst said. EchoStar shares fell $ 3.59
Tuesday to close at $ 29.84 and touched a 52-week low of $ 29.44
earlier in the day. The company, which added 455,000 subscribers to
its Dish Network service in the third quarter, lacks new services
to maintain growth next year, CIBC World Markets analyst
Jeffrey Wlodarczak said. (The Denver Post)
IXL TRIMS DENVER
WORKFORCE: More than 150 employees in information-technology
consultant IXL Inc.'s Denver office are among the 850 who will be
shed from the company through layoffs or sales. Atlanta-based IXL
announced Tuesday it will cut 35 percent of its staff in a
restructuring to reduce costs and reach profitability by early 2001.
The Denver site is among seven less-profitable offices IXL will
either sell or close. (The Denver Post)
INVESTOR WANTS PART
OF BUILDING: Property investor Jack Gindi is expected to buy the
ground floor of the Streetcar Stables building at 17th and Wynkoop
streets in Lower Downtown, sources close to the deal said Tuesday.
Tenants in the 22,000-square-foot space include Morton's Steakhouse,
Trios Enoteca, Paradise Cleaners and The Parlour. The remainder of
the five-story building consists of 43 privately owned lofts. The
property is owned by Steve Owen of Asset Investment Management Co.
and is listed for $ 5.3 million by Mark Wyatt of Frederick Ross. (The
Denver Post)
PRODUCTBUZZ FOLDING: Boulder-based Productbuzz, a
Web-site production company, announced Tuesday that it will
cease operations on Dec. 15 and terminate 18 of its 23 employees.
The remaining employees will complete an orderly termination of
the company within six to eight weeks, said Thomas Schilling,
a spokesman for iBelay.com, one of Productbuzz's
investors. Productbuzz was founded in May 1998. Its strategic
partners included Sun Microsystems and Oracle Corp. (The Denver Post)
RHYTHMS SECURES FUNDING: Rhythms NetConnections Inc.,
an international provider of high-speed Internet access
and networking solutions, Tuesday announced that it has obtained
an additional $ 50 million of vendor-lease financing.
Arapahoe County-based Rhythms will use the financing to continue
deploying its national network, which is expected to reach more than
100 metropolitan statistical areas this year. (The Denver Post)
NEON PLANS BUYBACK: Greenwood Village-based
software developer New Era of Networks announced Tuesday it will
repurchase up to 2 million shares of its stock, which has fallen
roughly 70 percent in the past week and a half. NEON officials said
the stock, which closed at $ 5.38 on Tuesday, represents a
'very attractive investment opportunity' for the company. (The Denver
Post)
INC. RANKS DENVER-BOULDER 11TH: The Denver-Boulder area
was ranked 11th for the third year in a row in Inc. magazine's
survey of the best cities to start and expand a business. The survey
also ranked the Fort Collins-Loveland-Greeley area at 28th in the
Small Metro Area category, up from 88th last year. The survey is in
the December issue. (The Denver Post)
VROOM SHIFTS
EXECUTIVES: Vroom Technologies, a telecommunications software company
based in Arapahoe County, announced Tuesday that chief executive
officer Rick Coleman has resigned but will remain chairman of the
company's board of directors. Current president and chief operating
officer Vic Ahmed will serve as president and chief executive
officer. William Goodison, senior vice president of sales and
operations, becomes executive vice president and chief operating
officer. (The Denver Post)
VITRO OBTAINS NEW DIRECTOR: Vitro Diagnostics
Inc. on Tuesday announced that officials of the National Institutes
of Health have approved Vitro's request for a new director of
research of its $ 100,000 grant to demonstrate the viability of
cell immortalization technology. Dr. James Musick has been approved
as the new principal investigator of the Littleton company's
Small Business Innovation Research grant. If this technology
is successfully developed, immortalized cells may be
transplanted into patients to restore functions lost by disease or
genetics. (The Denver Post)
NOOCHEE SOLD: Noochee Solutions,
an Internet infrastructure and application software company based in
Colorado Springs, will be acquired by San Diego-based Mindport, a
broadband services provider. Under the terms of the agreement,
Mindport will own 70 percent of the merged entity with the balance
held by existing Noochee shareholders. (The Denver Post)
Nation/World
GOVERNMENT RAISES MORTGAGE LIMIT: Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac said they will buy single-family mortgages worth as much
as $ 275,000 starting Jan. 1, a move that could help more
families obtain lower-cost loans. The new loan limit, 8.8 percent
higher than the current $ 252,700, is in line with the increase in
the average home price to $ 200,800 for the 12 months ended in
October, the Federal Housing Finance Board said. (Bloomberg)
T-BILLS SELL LOW: The U.S. Treasury sold $ 10 billion in
one-year bills at a high discount rate of 5.71 percent. At the
last auction, one-year bills drew a high rate of 5.88 percent. The
rate at Tuesday's sale was the lowest since 5.645 percent on Jan.
4. (Bloomberg)
LOAD-DATE: November 29, 2000
