Rockresorts, which manages a number of hotels, including Rosario Resort in the San Juan Islands, has been sold to one of the country’s largest ski resort companies. Colorado-based Vail Resorts announced it had bought a majority interest in Rockresorts from Olympus Real Estate Partners, a private investment fund, for $7.5 million.
Boosted considerably by the financial bailout package provided by the U.S. government, Alaska Air Group on Thursday reported net profits of $25.3 million, or 95 cents a share, for the third quarter, handily beating Wall Street expectations. Without the government assistance, the airline holding company still managed a profit of $7.3 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with a profit of $15.9 million, or 60 cents a share, in the third quarter of 2000.
New claims for unemployment insurance last week climbed to their second-highest level of the year as companies battered by the slumping economy and fallout from the terror attacks continued to shed workers. For the workweek ending Oct. 13, new jobless claims rose by a seasonally adjusted 6,000 to 490,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Bill Gates and the mayor of Shanghai announced the creation of a joint venture Thursday, and to mark the occasion the mayor said the government would stop using pirated software. Gates, the Microsoft founder, returned the favor by saying he planned to invest more money in the booming Chinese city. The new company will offer support services for Microsoft and other software companies.
Weyerhaeuser Co., still leading a hostile takeover battle for timber rival Willamette Industries, said Thursday it was extending for the seventh time its offer to buy Willamette shares at $50 each. The offer, set to expire Wednesday, will now run until Dec. 5. As of Wednesday, Weyerhaeuser said shareholders had tendered or not withdrawn approximately 51.7 million shares, or about 47 percent of the 109 million shares available. After nearly a year of resisting Weyerhaeuser’s bid, Willamette executives last week sent a letter to Weyerhaeuser saying they would be willing to talk about a possible takeover if Weyerhaeuser would raise its bid. Weyerhaeuser replied with a shorter letter of its own, saying it considered the offer “simply another way for you to just say no.” Shares in Willamette, based in Portland, Ore., were up 67 cents Thursday at $46.70.
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