Archive by Month
November 30, 2006
As usual, there's some good news for most of the networks. CBS continues to bring in the most viewers, ABC...
In case you've been just getting bits and pieces on the ongoing flap about Wal-Mart's allegiance to gay workers -...
C'mon admit it. You're starting to wonder what that holiday envelope with contain. Bonuses are a very big deal in...
What on earth would anyone do with a $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron, with a 1001-horsepower engine and a top speed...
The Bev Hills billionaire is selling another 14 million GM shares for $28.75 each, or a little over $400 million....
Retail sluggishness: Yes, there was plenty of action at the malls last weekend, but apparently it wasn't enough to offset...
November 29, 2006
Or so reports the WSJ's Sarah Ellison. Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the 81-year-old ex-chairman of American International Group Inc., obviously has...
Catching up on today's news that Jim Cramer, that crazy guy who hosts "Mad Money," on CNBC, is giving up...
Boy, did they ever reject it - 99 percent of the voting Writers Guild employees working for CBS in L.A.,...
Lots and lots of stuff, courtesy of a WSJ.com notebook that includes reports from the WSJ, Marketwatch, Dow Jones and...
Beware of too many construction cranes, especially in a neighborhood that includes Skid Row. The Business Journal is reporting this...
Let's start with the assumption that none of us outsiders knows what's really going on with the Tribune auction and...
Looks like many of the big retailers are not letting go of those sale prices from the Thanksgiving weekend. The...
Auto show opens: The 10-day extravaganza at the Los Angeles Convention Center is a month earlier this year (it was...
November 28, 2006
FranklinAvenue follows up on the LAT's piece about KKGO-AM going country by pointing out that the Inland Empire's country station,...
Remember when that wild and crazy Robert Iger suggested last year that it might make sense to release a film...
Hurry up and wait. Not surprisingly, the Chicago-based parent of the LAT is postponing a decision on how it plans...
Well, no, but fashion houses Oscar de la Renta, Monique Lhuillier and Chloe will be opening new boutiques on Melrose...
No worry about Barry Diller being afraid of speaking up - even if it means calling corporate governance activists “birdbrains.”...
Well, it takes all kinds in the business world, which is too bad for IHOP Corp. The Glendale-based pancake chain...
Stock watch: It's a good day to keep an eye on the market. The big question is whether yesterday's 160-point...
November 27, 2006
Whenever there's blood in the water, you can be certain that advertisers will be looking for a discount off the...
Most everything went down today - in some cases by a lot. The Dow fell almost 160 points while the...
Barbra Streisand's 20 concerts, her first live performances in six years, grossed $92.5 million and set house gross records in...
DreamWorks Animation looks like an obvious acquisition target, according to Merrill Lynch's Jessica Reif Cohen, who spoke to the Reuters...
Burkle's latest plans: The L.A.-based billionaire wants to start a "corporate governance fund" in which shareholders force managements to clean...
November 26, 2006
Dull old sweaters were no match for flat screen TVs and other electronic items over the weekend. Blogging in the...
November 24, 2006
So exactly how many people braved the malls today? No one has very good numbers at this point, but ShopperTrak...
Flat-screen TVs were at the center of the deep discounting early this morning - for good reason. They're much cheaper...
Too soon even for the exit polls, but all signs point to a very strong day-after-Thanksgiving shopping day (aka Black...
November 22, 2006
Very light posting over the next few days. Hope everyone has a terrific Thanksgiving weekend....
THQ, the Agoura Hills-based videogame maker, and J2 Global, the L.A.-based fax/voicemail developer, announced today that they have received notices...
If you're a struggling screenwriter you might not want to read this post, but Nikki Finke reports that Akiva Goldsman...
Ever wonder what it must be like to sell almost a half-billion dollars worth of stock with a snap of...
Much has been made of the crooner's 1994 performance on MTV - the concert that really got his career rocking...
Fans of the legendary sushi eatery on La Cienega will be happy to know that owner Nobu Matsuhisa has reversed...
Who gets O.J. tape?: The family of Ron Goldman has asked News Corp. to turn over the rights to the...
November 21, 2006
Brian White at Blogging Stocks offers a sneak peak on toys and games that will be priced for under $20...
The Internet giant closed above $500 a share for the first time - $509.70 to be exact. If you don't...
A new leasing policy at LAX means that airlines will have to pay far more to operate at the airport...
The Graphics Communications International Union, which is a unit of the Teamsters, filed a petition on Monday with the National...
O.J. fallout: Still some question on whether Simpson will be paid in full for the book and TV interview that...
November 20, 2006
There was no explanation (other than the obvious) on why the former KB Home Chairman and CEO resigned last week...
This one could get nasty. The El Segundo-based toymaker maintains that Bratz dolls were originally created by a designer who...
Economists said it was by nearly 2-to-1 in the latest WSJ.com economic forecasting survey. But they also expect that the...
Now that the preliminary bidders have gotten a look at the company's books, the next step happens in a week...
Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch called it an "ill-considered project." Here's what he said in a statement: "We are sorry for...
Will KB pay Karatz?: The LAT reports that ex-CEO Bruce Karatz is entitled to $175 million in severance pay, pension...
November 19, 2006
NBC Universal's chairman and CEO allows NYT reporters Bill Carter and Richard Siklos to follow him around during a recent...
November 18, 2006
Several interesting morsals, courtesy of the WSJ, about where Hollywood's movers and shakers like to sit at the famous Beverly...
The Business Journal comes out with its list of the 100 fastest growing companies in L.A. County and surrounding areas....
There's at least some laudable news concerning the "If I Did It" idiocy - the decision by Borders and Walden...
November 17, 2006
That's right, plunges - October joblessness was 4.3 percent, down from 4.8 percent in September and 5 percent from a...
The big music company, a unit of Vivendi SA, alleges that the News Corp.-owned social networking site violated copyright law...
November 14, 2006
I'll be out of pocket the next couple of days. Be back late Friday....
If you're confused about the specifics of the stock options scandal, Fortune's Justin Rose provides some good background on how...
But the numbers are low - just 40 or so jobs throughout the news division. NYT reports tonight that the...
That's as in the day after Thanksgiving, when many retailers will be opening their doors in the middle of the...
The Malibu-based writer/actor/economist is also honorary chairman of National Retirement Planning Week and he says that the U.S. has a...
They were lined up outside the Westwood Borders this morning - and by the looks of it, many had been...
October sales of existing homes either fell 21.6 percent from a year earlier or 11 percent, depending on which data...
Turns out that there are lines that Gawker Media will not cross, such as daring one of its subjects to...
Will Chandlers make bid?: With a growing list of possible suitors for Tribune Co., why not the Chandlers? That's the...
November 13, 2006
That was September's average daily room rate in Beverly Hills, a 14 percent increase from a year ago. Overall, L.A....
The City of Commerce retailer delayed filing quarterly results because of an internal investigation into its stock option practices (first...
L.A. still has a garment industry, but it's more of an adjunct to the major manufacturing that happens in China...
Just before the closing bell, KB Home was up more than 2 percent. Yes, that's the same KB Home whose...
Somehow, you could see this coming - a Snoop Dogg line of pet products, including toys, apparel and accessories. Malibu-based...
Stock update: In case you're wondering, Tribune is up 1.16 percent in early trading, to $32.40. Keep watching the numbers...
Will the future of the Tribune Co. be sorted out in just a few weeks? With every new bidder or...
Not likely. That internal investigation into backdated stock options by the L.A.-based homebuilder must have turned up some nasty stuff...
November 10, 2006
Let's just pretend you're back in college and trying to get an internship at NBC. You enter this crazy contest...
Its Valencia theme park (aka Six Flags Magic Mountain) is one of the properties up for sale and Bloomberg News...
Not by much - the median price of an existing home in Los Angeles County was $545,000, according to HomeData...
Consider the source and all that, but the NY Post's Page Six reports that Sitrick & Co. was hired and...
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's speech at USC last night drew a high-octane crowd of owners and team executives. The McCourts...
Word floating around that LAT editors got wind of the WSJ's plans for a page one story on the Times-Tribune...
Times-Tribune war: Did the LAT get wind that the WSJ was planning a major piece on the culture clash between...
November 09, 2006
The December Vanity Fair profile on Eli Broad gets into his not-so-wonderful relationship with David Geffen - and helps explain...
Funny how earnings conference calls bring out the politician in many an executive. And with it, the illusion of success....
The New York press just loves stories about under-30 Sammy Glick types getting a movie made. The latest variation on...
Santa Clara appears to be the new site for the SF 49ers, which broke off negotiations with San Francisco city...
J.C. Penney and Kohl's appear to be picking up some former Robinsons-May customers who might not be all that happy...
It's still a story no one can get their arms around. Almost 24 hours after the Broad-Burkle bid for the...
November 08, 2006
Aw, heck, let me throw another log on the fire - namely a Defamer item that cites "current whispers" (whoever...
Downtown's transition from condos to rentals is well underway. Nearly 1,500 apartments will enter the downtown market in the second...
Shares in the Long Beach-based health care company fell almost 11 percent on Wednesday, to $34.87. It might seem a...
Ah, to be on the outside looking in. Word that Eli Broad and Ron Burkle are jointly submitting a bid...
It's risky to directly connect stock prices with national election results, but for what it's worth, shares of both Amgen...
Post-election blues: So you thought the markets had gotten past the mid-term elections weeks ago? Apparently, no one expected that...
With the Democrats now in control of the House, Westside Congressman Henry Waxman will likely become chairman of the House...
November 07, 2006
This could be an interesting match. O'Shea is described as a very midwestern guy, "about as un-L.A. person as I...
LAT publisher David Hiller announces departure of Baquet: Folks, We have published a story on the website that Dean Baquet...
Well, he signed off on shuttering the storied City News wire service last December, part of a 27-person reduction at...
Sure, there's been some action on TradeSports.com and the Iowa Electronic Markets on who will win tonight, but it's nothing...
Why should Disney just license its characters to videogame developers when it could make the games itself and not have...
Wall Street anticipation: Expect a pretty low-key session as traders await the results of the election. A Democratic takeover of...
November 06, 2006
Snaring a ticket over the weekend to see "Borat" took some doing. When I showed up at the AMC in...
With the ongoing stock options scandal, this has been the quarter of the revenue release, with companies delaying earnings pending...
George Joseph is 84, after all, so it's not that big a shock. But the announcement was buried in the...
Gasoline conspiracy?: There has to be something behind the huge decline in pump prices, right? The LAT explores the various...
November 03, 2006
Keep an eye on the opening box office this weekend for "Flushed Away," the latest offering from DreamWorks Animation that...
The latest numbers from Tradesports.com, which is a trading and betting exchange, show that the Democrats have a 75 percent...
Talk about when worlds collide. Away from his Bev Hills haunts, the CNN talk show host presided over Nasdaq's opening...
No, it isn't the opening of "Borat," the well-publicized mockumentary about the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev (aka Sacha Baron...
Jobless numbers: Nationwide unemployment in October was 4.4 percent, a five-year low, though the number of new jobs fell well...
November 02, 2006
Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimmons had it right when he told company employees this morning that they can count on lots...
The radio business continues to struggle, reflected by CBS Corp.'s third-quarter numbers. Revenue for the company's radio operations fell 6...
The topic is bound to come up among the Hollywood chatterers speculating on his future roles for United Artists. In...
WSJ is reporting that along with "substantial ownership," Cruise and partner Paula Wagner will have control of the company's production...
This one is a Jackson Pollock for about $140 million, according to the NYT. That would be the highest price...
Tribune sale: Chicago Tribune sorts through the ramifications of the LAT owner opening up its auction to include bids for...
November 01, 2006
It's nice to see sanity finally getting a hearing in the case against UnitedHealth's outgoing-CEO William McGuire. The California Public...
Who needs a court when "Turbo Tennis" allows you to play the game on a mobile phone? Anyway, that's the...
I'm told that the ones along Beverly Blvd. are either open or about to be open today - on schedule...
We can't seem to get anough of the Viacom chairman. In the December Vanity Fair, Bryan Burrough gets his chance...
A little away from our usual terrain, but apparently there was some buzz out of Washington this morning about the...
This has become a year-round pursuit, but November is when things become serious and THR's Martin Grove lays out all...
Power of cable: It's certainly seen in Time Warner Inc.'s third-quarter profits, which were nearly triple that of a year...
© 2003-2008 • About LA Observed • Contact the editor
Forget plastics, the real action these days is arranging going-out-of-business sales.
More From Mark Lacter:
Without referencing its recent layoff, the Ventura County Star's editor says the suburban LA paper is now "more streamlined and, in many ways, much more efficient."
We stripped the Indians of their ponies, and now we're doing it to ourselves.
When the sun looks like that, there's a big fire somewhere regardless of whether we see or smell smoke.
After 22 years of loyalty, Baylor is unceremoniously shown the door.
Lee Abrams, Tribune Company's chief innovation officer, doesn’t seem too impressed with the Los Angeles Times. That’s the feeling I got when he appeared at the Los Angeles Press Club.
Seven or fifteen minutes from now I can definitively say I didn't hear the sound of sirens.
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