AMERIQUEST JOINS WITH RAYS: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have signed a new multiyear sponsorship agreement with Ameriquest Mortgage Co. of Orange, Calif. Financial terms weren't released. Under the pact, Ameriquest will receive an outfield wall sign at Tropicana Field and two concourse booths where fans can register to win free mortgage payments. Ameriquest's deal with the Rays follows the company's agreement in April to become Major League Baseball's official mortgage company and balloting sponsor for the All-Star Game. Also this month, Ameriquest announced it had purchased the naming rights to the Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers.
JUDGE UPHOLDS AT&T ORDER: Attorney General Charlie Crist said Leon County Circuit Judge Nikki Clark has denied AT&T's request for a stay of her order May 20 adopting a settlement between the long-distance carrier and the attorney general's office. AT&T had wanted a narrower prohibition on marketing services to customers who call to report "billing issues." Crist welcomed Clark's decision, saying "it should be the people's choice, the customer's option, not to have products thrust upon them." The settlement was related to AT&T's erroneous billing of hundreds of thousands of consumers for long-distance services they didn't have.
AUTO DEALERSHIPS FILL "BE 100': Auto dealerships offer one of the best opportunities for black business, Black Enterprise says in its 32nd annual ranking of top minority-owned U.S. businesses in its June issue. Dealerships account for 41 percent of the 100 best companies ranked by sales. Technology accounts for just over 11 percent, food and beverage for 10 percent and manufacturing for 9.4 percent. Publisher Earl Graves Sr. points out that compiling the annual Black Enterprise list is a special challenge since, unlike Fortune 500 companies, most of them are privately owned and not required to make financial disclosures. Altogether, he said, the latest "BE 100" employed 87,000 in 2003 and generated revenues of better than $22-billion.
STEWART MAY OFFER JAIL ALTERNATIVE: Martha Stewart will seek to lighten her jail term by spending up to 20 hours a week teaching poor women how to start their own businesses, according to Newsweek magazine. Stewart has offered to work up to 1,000 hours for Women's Venture Fund, a nonprofit organization in New York, WVF president Maria Otero told the magazine for its June 7 edition. After meeting with Stewart, Otero wrote a three-page letter to U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum about how the domestic doyenne's know-how could benefit underprivileged women, Newsweek said. Robert Morvillo, a lawyer for Stewart, would not confirm the report.
CHINESE BANK UNDER OUTSIDER'S CONTROL: China's Shenzhen Development Bank Co. has agreed to sell an 18 percent stake to U.S. private equity firm Newbridge Capital Ltd., a rare deal giving effective control of a state-owned mainland bank to a foreign company. Shenzhen has been leading reforms aimed at reducing government ownership. A notice by the bank, published Monday in the state-owned China Securities Journal said negotiations on the long-awaited deal ended over the weekend. It did not give financial terms for the deal, which requires approval by banking regulators.
FORSTMANN FACES TRIAL OVER LOSS: Connecticut's pension fund lost millions of dollars when Wall Street buyout specialist Forstmann Little & Co.'s investments soured. Now it is a jury's job to decide if the company is obligated to pay the state because of the loss. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Treasurer Denise Nappier sued Forstmann in 2002, accusing the company of losing $125-million in state pension money. The civil case begins today in Superior Court.
