Archive by Month
September 30, 2006
Once again, Tim Rutten is on his holier-than-Times rant. This week, he focuses on those money-grubbing Wall Street types who...
September 29, 2006
Franklin Avenue takes up the rumors that Star 98.6 (KYSE-FM) will switch to a country format, filling the void left...
Last week, I gave the LAT a hard time for placing the jump to a feature about the retailer H&M...
The Senate signed off on a $448 billion military spending bill that includes enough money to fund a few more...
Merrill Lynch and Citigroup have been brought on to help make recommendations to the board of the Chicago-based company -...
Note to union: Be careful what you promise. Thursday's LAX-area demonstration to protest the treatment of immigrant workers employed at...
September 28, 2006
EMI Group is selling the world's first circular building to developer Argent Ventures for $50 million. The music company has...
But it was close. The index finished the day at 11,718.45, just four points shy of the all-time high close....
Along with today's release of the quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast was a study of Southern California's aerospace industry - and...
All I want to know is whether my grilled chicken sandwich at Burger King has a suspected carcinogen. Seems simple...
Times talk: LAT Publisher Jeff Johnson gets a mostly flattering writeup in the NYT. Without offering any details, story notes...
UCLA's Anderson Forecast expects the declining real estate market to take a bite out of growth, but not create R-word...
September 27, 2006
Vectibix is for the treatment of advanced colon cancer and is considered one of Amgen's most promising drugs. It was...
She's young and beautiful and has been in a lot of movies, but not many of them are very good....
Brace yourself, Web 2.0 is in full throttle. The latest evidence comes from a crazy valuation for Beverly Hills-based MySpace,...
Not that there was any doubt, but Univision shareholders signed off on the company's sale to a group of private...
Store owner Robert Blue, who had been holding out against the $400 million Hollywood and Vine development (the one featuring...
Dole woes: A third bag of Dole spinach has tested positive for E. coli, which puts the Westlake Village-based company...
September 26, 2006
The sale of the Spanish-language network will be formally approved by shareholders tomorrow at a special meeting in Los Angeles....
Would you believe that the Dow is within 60 points of its all-time high? Today's close of 11,669.60 is just...
With surprising ease. As I write in next month’s issue of Los Angeles magazine, the class division of haves and...
It would have made for a nice story, but Russ Solomon has decided to pass on a bid for Tower...
How low can gas go?: The federal government's weekly survey found that the price of a gallon of self-serve regular...
September 25, 2006
The super-sly media investor John Malone has been in the news the last week or two for his possible swap...
Today's pullback wasn't huge - down 2.5 percent, to close at $33.15 - but it was telling. Analysts are beginning...
Economists at the National Association of Realtors cite a 1.7 percent drop in August home prices. "We've been anticipating a...
Some years back, billionaire Alfred Mann, who made a fortune on medical devices, offered UCLA $100 million. He told the...
UAL Corp., the parent of United Air Lines, has hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to advise it on the possibilities...
Northrop must wait: Having lost out on two huge contracts in the past month or so, Northrop is facing an...
September 23, 2006
Special kind of reader: Tim Rutten harrumphs about how the Tribune executives just don't understand that LAT readers are less...
September 22, 2006
Advertising dollars are becoming closely scrutinized in Hollywood these days (they seem to really mean it this time), which is...
She's really out this time, resigning as Hewlett-Packard chairman and board member, effective immediately. She is being replaced by H-P...
BW's Ron Grover asks a quite reasonable question: Why would wheeler-dealer extraordinaire John Malone be interested in owning El Segundo-based...
Getting relatively little attention in today's stories about the Tribune announcement was a sentence buried in the press release. It...
Tribune for sale: That's the upshot of the company's decision to "create additional value for shareholders," which is usually bizspeak...
September 21, 2006
Two important developments. First, the Chandler partnerships that were complicating any effort to reshape the company have themselves been restructured...
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the announcement at a joint press conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg after the two...
But it won't be a hotel. It will be a timeshare, developed through the company's Hilton Grand Vacations Co. division....
Shares close at $32.05, up 4.43 percent on the day. This morning's WSJ story about how the board might consider...
Word that the social network site Facebook might be sold to Yahoo for around $1 billion is a reminder of...
"Radical Action" at Tribune?: That's what the Tribune Co. board will be considering today, according to the WSJ. Among the...
September 20, 2006
Nikki Finke lays out the not-so-charming details of how United Talent's Nick Stevens got the heave-ho after 15 years. There's...
The United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association, not exactly known for big marketing efforts, will soon begin a return-to-spinach blitz,...
It's being called a global warming suit against all the major carmakers. California Attorney General Bill Lockyer (his friends just...
The San Fernando Valley Business Journal is reporting that MGA Entertainment, the Van Nuys-based maker of Bratz dolls, is buying...
I realize the newsroom is distracted these days, but how on earth did this morning's jump to the story on...
Another Northrop loss: Wash. Post reports that Boeing Co. has won that huge contract to secure the nation's northern and...
September 19, 2006
The big digital news is how well Disney did in its first week of offering movies on iTunes - 125,000...
It's not exactly open warfare - but it's getting there. An open letter to Tribune Co. is making the rounds...
The gain was just under 14 percent for the day. That sounds like a lot, but with the stock closing...
The New Yorker's Elizabeth Kolbert says California's effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions "may well be the most important piece...
He's just announced the formation of The O'Neal Group, which will be looking for partnerships and joint ventures involving real...
Tribune responds: As noted on LA Observed, Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons defended the company's ownership of the L.A. Times and...
September 18, 2006
Plenty, as Daniel Akst pointed out in Sunday's NYT. Here's his astute premise: Anything that reinforces the role of fossil...
In case you missed it in Sunday's NYT, there's an opening to be dean of USC Libraries. It was pretty...
The government is days away from selecting one of several defense-aerospace firms - L.A.-based Northrop Grumman among them - to...
Sumner and Rupert: Just about the last two media moguls who are readily identifiable by their first names. The LAT...
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) examines the growing pressures at Tribune Co. to sell the LAT. Still no sign...
September 17, 2006
Mid-2007 is the latest date for the opening of a downtown supermarket, the Downtown News reports. It's hard to keep...
Spinach mystery: Coverage focuses on the ban of all spinach - except frozen - and the origin of E. coli...
September 16, 2006
In case you're focused on today's college games, Time Warner Cable, as promised, cut off the NFL Network from its...
September 15, 2006
For more than a week now, Hewlett-Packard's Patricia Dunn has been pilloried on all fronts for her handling of the...
It seems a little premature since investigators don't even know who processed the spinach suspected of carrying the E. coli...
The August jobless rate in L.A. County was a seasonally adjusted 4.8 percent, up from 4.5 percent in July but...
Satellite swap: Remember when Rupert Murdoch seemed almost obsessed with buying a U.S. satellite service that would serve as a...
September 14, 2006
The numbers are especially big at the Port of Los Angeles, which saw a 21.4 percent increase in August traffic...
Let's not underestimate Steve Jobs and Apple - certainly Business Week tech guys Cliff Edwards and Steve Wildstrom don't. But...
The Pasadena-based dating service (I know they want to be called a "relationship service") was among several online sites mentioned...
The lead bidder in the court-supervised bankruptcy sale is a Woodland Hills-based liquidating firm called Great American Group. That could...
August revenue for the parent company of the Los Angeles Times fell 1.6 percent from a year earlier. Ad revenue...
Bold move: It's one thing for a bunch of civic leaders to sign off on a meaningless letter of protest...
September 13, 2006
The 41-acre Carson site that had been the automaker's former North American headquarters is being sold to Kearny Real Estate...
You don't need a degree in economics to figure out that when home sales fall, apartment rentals are likely to...
Some talk is starting to percolate in the music/media world about litigation against YouTube and MySpace over the posting of...
Or so says a spokesman for the oil company this morning, according to Reuters. About 1,000 barrels of a refined...
Shares of the L.A.-based aerospace company are down a little this morning - no doubt influenced by a less-than-glowing Corporate...
H-P indictments: Everyone is all over the remarks made by California Attorney General Bill Lockyer that investigators have "sufficient evidence...
September 12, 2006
Rupert Murdoch is getting raves today with News Corp.'s purchase of a controlling stake in Jamba, a company that develops...
There's nothing like a steep drop in oil prices and a strong showing by McDonald's to get Wall Street excited....
The L.A.-based company will build a high-speed wireless data network designed to allow New York cops and firefighters to better...
As expected, Steve Jobs this morning introduced a book-sized device that can be attached to a television and receive programs...
So much for retiring in December. Angelo Mozilo said this morning that he has been working with the board of...
Venturing too far: Nifty LAT story about how a little-known Century City venture capital firm called International Technology University has...
Patricia Dunn will resign from her post at Hewlett-Packard - but not until next year. H-P CEO Mark Hurd takes...
September 11, 2006
So much for all the grief the local hotels went through after 9/11, when nobody wanted to travel. The July...
That's the threat anyway. The airline is ticked off over a scene in the network's "Path to 9/11" docudrama that...
The Energy Department's weekly survey is just out and the average price of a gallon of a self-serve regular in...
The Hewlett-Packard board won't resume their deliberations on what to do with Chairwoman Patricia Dunn until 6 p.m. The WSJ,...
You're a union organizer trying to improve the conditions of janitors working at NBC Studios and Universal Citywalk. You hold...
MGA Entertainment, based in Van Nuys and known mainly for being the maker of Bratz dolls, is buying the Little...
Very slow morning, what with all the 9/11 coverage. Speaking of which: Money angles: It's pretty tough to get away...
September 10, 2006
9/11 economy: Remember all those predictions that in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks the nation's economy would become more...
September 09, 2006
That's Angelo Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial, and the question has been batted around since the nation's...
September 08, 2006
That's what several news organizations are reporting this afternoon. The emergency session, to be held by phone, will focus on...
No big changes from the previous month, according to numbers prepared for the Business Journal by HomeData Corp. and released...
The perceived risk of owning Hilton bonds has fallen by more than a third since June 22, according to data...
The Irvine-based semiconductor manufacturer is now talking about $1.5 billion in compensation expenses from past stock option grants - and...
The Burbank-based Mouse House leads the way in Business Week's ranking of 50 best places to launch a career. Based...
10 Universal for sale: It's part of a 10-building portfolio that Beacon Capital Properties is putting on the block, reports...
September 07, 2006
It certainly won't appease everyone, but the LAT's Scott Collins is reporting that the Disney-owned network has made changes in...
The WSJ's esteemed panel of economists see the housing market cool-down to extend into next year. But as usually happens...
After spending 30 minutes crawling for three miles on the 405, I'm not that surprised to find that our fair...
The Detroit-based banks plans to open six branches in Southern California over the next six months. Locations will be in...
In its constant effort to keep spreading the brand, Walt Disney Co. has introduced a digital camera line for children....
HP inquiry: California Attorney General Bill Lockyer has launched a criminal investigation into the boradroom leaks at Hewlett-Packard Co., with...
September 06, 2006
Stores open, stores close - and no one much cares. But the weird fascination with the expansion of the Swedish-based...
Three likely bidders have submitted "letters of intent" and there have been expressions of interest from nine others. A lead...
LA Weekly columnist Nikki Finke is reporting that David Geffen called Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone yesterday morning and suggested that...
Good question. This was supposed to be the summer from hell, what with packed planes, a closed runway and no...
Everyone has a real estate story - including Lisa Napoli, a reporter for public radio's "Marketplace" program, who writes of...
That's where the L.A.-based premium jeans maker will be opening a retail outlet, one of 11 planned by the end...
Paramount buzz: Brad Grey's future as head of Paramount Pictures gets lots of attention in this morning's saturation coverage of...
September 05, 2006
It's headed that way. The government's survey released this afternoon shows that an average gallon of self-serve regular in L.A....
A formal announcement is expected tomorrow, but AP is reporting that the deal is done. Purchase price is said to...
You remember Sky Dayton, don't you? The onetime owner of Cafe Mocha (Drew Barrymore used to work behind the counter)...
The problem, says a market research guy quoted in this week's Ad Age, is that it's not really Mexican food....
It's not even 1 pm. and we're well into the 90s throughout much of the region (though not yet in...
Sumner Redstone listens to what Wall Street has to say, so he can't be very pleased with the reaction so...
September 03, 2006
Freston out at Viacom and more morning headlines
September 01, 2006
Time to catch my breath after five weeks of fun-filled biz-blogging. Really, it's been a blast, and I especially appreciate...
Novel enough for magazines to rank them. Forbes' just-released list of the world's 100 most powerful women includes five that...
As you've probably noticed, there's a lot of heat over CBS agreeing to divide "Survivor" teams according to race. The...
Northrop hangover: The LAT reports that Northrop Grumman executives "were stunned" when NASA's multi-billion contract for the Orion manned space...
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The documentary “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” is being cited in the director's request to dismiss the molestation case against him.
More From Mark Lacter:
Hennessey + Ingalls Art and Architecture bookstore opens a branch in Hollywood this week.
Bush sought to "make the pie higher," but President-elect Barack Obama says it's time "to make sure we're growing the pie …"
Legendary 19th-century photographer Carleton Watkins, who is the subject of an exhibition at the Getty, traveled hard miles around California with a simple motto: stand "where the view looks best."
After 22 years of loyalty, Baylor is unceremoniously shown the door.
Here’s a way city hall can strong arm the Dodgers into paying at least part of the cost of providing public transportation to the stadium during baseball season.
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