Monopoly makes play for Buffett fans

If you’ve got $30 and some imagination, you can invest with Warren Buffett.

A special edition of the “Monopoly” board game featuring Buffett and his Berkshire Hathaway companies will be unveiled next week in conjunction with Buffett’s annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Neb.

The Berkshire version of the game was the brainchild of Emily Wigton, corporate gift sales associate for Omaha-based Borsheim’s Fine Jewelry and Gifts, a member of the Berkshire portfolio.

A total of 5,000 games were manufactured and will go on sale Monday to the general public.

Does Buffett like the game?

“He loves it,” Wigton said. “He doesn’t think we’ll have enough.”

Buffett has made himself the world’s second-richest man — and many of his stockholders into millionaires — by buying companies in a wide array of industries, including insurance, furniture, restaurants, candy and newspapers. Each of his companies are represented in the Monopoly game.

Communications

Two board members to retire from Sprint

Two of Sprint Corp.’s longest-serving board members are stepping down.

Charles Rice, who joined the board of then-United Telecommunications in 1975, and DuBose Ausley, who has been on the board since 1993, plan to leave the board of the Overland Park-based company at Sprint’s annual meeting later this year.

Company spokesman Scott Stoffel said Rice, chairman of Mayport Venture Partners LLC, is nearing the company’s mandatory retirement age of 70. Ausley, a Tallahassee, Fla., attorney, is 67 but because he is not an independent board member, would not be eligible to continue after Sprint’s proposed merger with Nextel Communications Inc., Stoffel said.

Aviation

Ryanair gets discount from Boeing on order

Irish budget airline Ryanair Holdings PLC will pay $3.57 billion for the 70 Boeing Co. airplanes it has ordered, a large discount on the listed price, the carrier said Friday.

The price for each 737-800 airplane will be about $51 million, including the engines and some optional features, Dublin-based Ryanair said in a regulatory filing.

Boeing’s list price for that model, according to the Boeing Web site, is a range of $61.5 million to $69.5 million. Boeing spokesman Todd Blecher said it was not unusual for the manufacturer to offer discounts for large orders.

Ryanair also will pay around $900,000 per aircraft for equipment from third parties that Boeing will install.