Archive by Month
December 29, 2006
The last trading day of 2006 ended on a down note, with the Dow falling 38 points. But overall this... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
This might have started a few days back, but today is the first time I've seen a Daily News story... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Several candidates come to mind, but my favorite is how the runup in gas prices would severely impact the economy... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It's sure looking that way, considering that opponents of extending the city's Living Wage law to LAX-area hotels have supposedly... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 28, 2006
An announcement by the New York Stock Exchange is expected shortly. Nasdaq has already announced plans to be closed as... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
You might recall plans first announced last year by the L.A.-based home builder to develop thousands of homes on a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 27, 2006
It was a challenge to get a ticket on Christmas Day, when sell-out crowds prompted some theaters to add late... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The arrangements, to be announced sometime today, will likely involve a small private ceremony in Palm Desert, where the public... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 26, 2006
There's been a fair amount of blog chatter among foodies about the last days of L'Orangerie, the grand dame of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
They're up more than 20 cents a gallon since Nov. 6, just as the holiday sales season was getting started.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
In the absence of any big news this week, it doesn't take much to get traders and investors thinking about... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
We're here all week, but as you can guess the news machine is mostly in sleep-mode until next Tuesday. So... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
"Disappointing" is the word being bandied about this morning. Visa USA said sales rose 6.5 percent in November and December,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Socal's affluent residents - we're talking annual income of more than $200,000 - give away twice as much of their... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 24, 2006
You knew it had to happen. After being pummeled pretty consistently these past 10 days for her scurrilous ways, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 22, 2006
The editor of West magazine told his staff today that he has given notice to become a senior fellow at... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Remember when L.A. officials tried to convince Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group to eadquarter its new U.S. airline here? The... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
But things are hardly normal. Two runways were opened at around 10 a.m. and they're hoping to clear two more... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
L.A. County's jobless rate fell to 4.2 percent in November, which is the lowest level in at least 30 years.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
In the media world, five years is ancient history. Consider the case of Rupert Murdoch, who in October 2001 lost... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Travel mess: The big problem, of course, involves getting in and out of Denver, where the airport isn't even scheduled... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The long-discussed plan for News Corp. to hand over its controlling stake in the El Segundo-based satellite service to Liberty... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 21, 2006
That's been the heavy-duty speculation going into the 2007 acquisition season. Merrill Lynch's David Anders added more fuel to the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Well, at least in advance of an expected appeal. Superior Court Judge Dzintra Janavs overturned the law that would give... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Laura Mecoy, who has been in the L.A. office for 14 years, says she's considering whether to relocate her family... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The old palooka (and I do mean old) scored a more-than-respectable $6.2 million on opening day - a mid-week opener... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Chandlers and Tribune: Representatives of the newspaper family were in Chicago this week to hear a sales presentation on the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 20, 2006
Demographers are taking note of the dwindling numbers coming into California from other states. Between 2005 and 2006, net immigration... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
When the L.A.-based real estate company was being run by Richard Ziman, the focus was strictly on Southern California (Ziman... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
You have to feel for Irvine-based Taco Bell, which is struggling to get back fast-food customers as a result of... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
BW offers its end-of-the-year roster, which includes some obvious clunkers (the O.J. Simpson book and TV interview, Hewlett-Packard's boneheaded efforts... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
For anyone who missed the former GE chairman the other night on Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central show, let's just say... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Ticketmaster buys stake: The West Hollywood-based ticket service has picked up a 25 percent stake in iLike.com, where users exchange... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 19, 2006
Coming to any conclusions about next year's housing market has become a thankless exercise because many of the numbers are... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Many of them are noticeably later this year - presumably because online retailers are doing a better job at turning... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The Port of Los Angeles saw a 16.3 percent increase in the number of containers handled last month compared with... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
If you're struggling to find a hotel room under $200 a night during the holidays, there's always downtown. The Sheraton... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
This has been talked about off and on ever since it emerged from bankruptcy three years ago. FOH Holdings, the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The assumption has been that holiday shoppers wait to the last minute in the expectation that retailers will mark down... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
'Jewish cabal': That's the phrase Judith Regan apparently used in her conversation with the HarperCollins attorney - the conversation that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 18, 2006
Port of Los Angeles officials have made plans for the nation's first container-inspection facility on 14 acres of Terminal Island.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
He's the owner of L.A.-based American Apprel and always seems to be in the middle of controversy, mostly for the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
That's the Dutch parent of THR, Adweek, Billboard and Nielsen. All told, 4,000 jobs, or around 10 percent of the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Sounds like it's just in the talking stage, but the owner of NY's famous frank-and-juice emporiums has been expanding outside... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Tribune vs. Chandler: With little action from the outside, it's looking like Tribune management and the Chandler family will make... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 17, 2006
LAT reports that Judith Regan's sudden firing late Friday afternoon came right after a phone conversation with a HarperCollins attorney... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 16, 2006
It's the 54-story hotel and condo tower that's the centerpiece of the L.A. Live complex, right next to Staples Center.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 15, 2006
HarperCollins announced the dismissal of the wild-and-crazy editor, who created quite a stir with her plans for a book and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The new owner of the Four Points Sheraton Hotel has rehired 12 workers who were let go earlier in the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
This one, from Entrepreneur.com, involves Valerie Bent, who two years ago was working for an L.A.-area investor relations firm she... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Say what you will about Dean Singleton, but the guy is persistent. He's finally getting his hands on the Daily... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
As in public companies now having to report executive perks over $10,000 (from $50,000). The new SEC rule is already... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Did you know that Americans drank 10 times as much bottled water in 2004 as they did in 1980, that... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Gas prices go up: The party's over, it appears. Refinery production problems have pushed up wholesale prices and that's having... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 14, 2006
Interested in showing up your neighbor with the hottest, coolest, hippest, trendiest, have-to-have-at-any-cost add-on for your house? Real estate author... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Talking about stating the obvious. The Southern California Association of Governments came out with its annual State of the Region... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It's not the Monday after Thanksgiving, as the news stories would have you believe. It was actually this past Monday,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Was it just a few months back that Disney was considered in a no-win position as the distributor of Gibson's... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
At the closing bell, the Dow was up 96 points (it retreated a bit from earlier in the session). It... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Chandler update: WSJ reports that the Chandler family, which is making noises about making a bid for part of Tribune... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 13, 2006
Now that lettuce has been identified as the probable source - or delivery "vehicle" - in the outbreak of E.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
That's at least the view of 24/7 Wall St.'s Douglas McIntyre, who lists the Thousand Oaks-based Amgen as among the... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
While we're on the subject of rich and poor, perhaps it's worth noting that in this season of Wall Street... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Nearly three-quarters of Americans believe the gap between rich and poor is a serious national concern, according to a new... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The NYT's David Cay Johnson likes to delve into some very complicated economic and financial stories. His latest effort concerns... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It's very small, but 1st Century Bank has gotten a fair amount of attention because it was started up by... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Housing settles down: The median price of an L.A. County home was $510,000 in November, according to DataQuick Information Systems,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 12, 2006
Techcrunch claims it's gotten a hold of documents showing the progression of negotiations between Yahoo and the social networking site... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The NFL Network is offering Time Warner Cable one free week of its programming, but the offer doesn't appear to... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
New ways to cheat: But you have to be a corporate executive who is already manipulating his stock option grants.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 11, 2006
L.A. and other large Socal cities saw a drop in both central-city and suburban poverty rates over the period between... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Searching the Internet for "construction laborer" and "Mexican workers" could turn up an outfit called Labormex Foreign Labor Solutions, which... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Shopping update: Retailers might get a break this year because Hanukkah starts on Dec. 15, which means an extra shopping... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 10, 2006
His ultra-violent "Apocalypto" found enough takers over the weekend to top the box office charts. The R-rated story set in... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Could a place like Chandler, Ariz. offer its residents the same kind of retail offerings without benefit of chain stores?... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It's inevitable that the popular video site would be getting some competition, so now we have Fox, Viacom, CBS and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 02, 2006
I'll be traveling next week, so posting will be light and sporadic (no morning headlines). Normal posting returns next weekend.... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Part of Kirk Kerkorian's mystique is that he simply doesn't do interviews. But that doesn't mean his friends and business... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
December 01, 2006
You just knew that Disney animators would be getting the short end of the stick when the Mouse House purchased... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
The criminal case against the Compton-based supermarket chain is not over. At least the questions aren’t. While Ralphs the company... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
This time, it's Keith Turner, president of ad sales. Turner, who had been with the network for nearly 20 years,... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Does Beverly Hills really need a kosher steakhouse that also specializes in sushi? We'll find out next week when New... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
Shares are down 6.1 percent this morning, at $26.01, after the Calabasas-based restaurant chain reported lower third-quarter profit and a... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
It was the biggest month of the year for the financial markets - stocks, corporate bonds, private equity, mergers and... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
So much for that investment: Turns out that billionaire Kirk Kerkorian is pulling out of GM entirely. The WSJ reports... $MTEntryExcerpt$>
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