Archive by Month
January 31, 2007
Good question. Bloomberg News reports today that the crackdown on backdating is stuck because SEC Chairman Christopher Cox hasn't decided...
If only you had bought shares of the Calabasas-based mortgage company early Friday morning. The stock opened at $40.29 and...
That seems to be the case with Citicorp joining up with Bev Hills-based Relativity Media to fund at least 45...
Several Socal ad agencies worked on spots that will be seen during Sunday's big game. It's a lot of car...
One defense analyst is calling it the most politicized military contract he has ever seen, which says a lot. It's...
Economy surprises experts: The gross domestic product grew at a rate of 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, despite concerns...
January 30, 2007
Remember Eurochow, that all-white, high-design super-snobby restaurant in the middle of Westwood Village? Owner Mr. Chow of Bev Hills fame...
Deutsch, Los Angeles, will be picking up GM's Saturn account from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco - a piece...
If you bought a flat-panel TV during the holiday season, the following item might be too much to bear. iSuppli,...
How do you say that someone is getting laid without actually saying it? The WSJ has its hand with innuendo...
Yes, the Bev Hills-based talent agency has a marketing arm and it's in charge of launching Colorist, Revlon's new hair-coloring...
Alas, we win out over Detroit. Ad agency McCann Erickson was having such a tough time getting folks to move...
The decision by the former LAT editor to return to the NYT, announced this morning, will lead inquiring minds to...
Countrywide's sober forecast: While shares of the Calabasas-based mortgage giant continue to rise on takeover rumors, CEO Angelo Mozilo expects...
January 29, 2007
That's as in Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, the former Paramount president and Yahoo media/entertainment head. They're launching a multimedia...
They're due out Wednesday and they're not going to be pretty. Analysts expect fourth-quarter profit to be 46 cents per...
NY magazine provides us with waaaaay more up close and personal stuff than I, for one, was looking for on...
Not that you'll probably notice, but Tesoro Corp. is buying Royal Dutch Shell's Wilmington refinery, plus 250 filling stations, for...
Banking does not sound like a very exciting business. You bring in money at the lowest possible interest rate and...
Paramount vs. DreamWorks: It's been a year since the "Dream team" was purchased by Paramount in a $1.6 billion deal,...
January 26, 2007
Yeah, that's Katie Holmes and apparently her reps at CAA have been trying to get her back into the game...
Well, not yet, but the FT is reporting that the Calabasas-based mortgage giant is in talks with Bank of America...
This wasn't a great day for either THQ or Activision, Socal's two big videogame companies. Not a big surprise, really,...
OK, we have record earnings, monster box office, still-solid TV ratings, a stock that keeps going up - the new...
Tower trouble?: EMI's decision to merge Capitol Records and Virgin Records has locals worried that the music giant is prepping...
It's over the apparent backdating of the homebuilder's stock option grants - and what led to the ouster of long-time...
January 25, 2007
How about scented ads? The WSJ, no less, is on the verge of offering "rub and sniff" advertising, according to...
You can't keep hitting new highs forever. The Dow finished the day down 119 points - and as often happens...
Talk about your fast exits. When Judith Regan was fired and escorted out of her L.A. office, she was only...
The luxury hotel will occupy the first 20 floors of a 48-story tower designed by Frank Gehry (for-sale residences on...
Sometimes, it takes a crisis to get noticed. Such is the case with California's monster agriculture industry, which everyone living...
The charges against Victor Jung, former treasurer of NBC Universal, have the makings of one (at least an episode of...
Tribune race shifting?: The Broad/Burkle offer appears to have a slight edge, according to the WSJ. But not enough to...
January 24, 2007
You're not surprised, are you? The national Nielsen numbers show that Tuesday night's "American Idol" drew 32.6 million viewers on...
That's what 20th Century Fox wants to know, which is why the video site was served with a subpoena demanding...
The deal would be worth nearly $700 million, covering the 38 percent of the Woodland Hills-based insurance company that AIG...
Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I happened to notice two beefy business stories wind up on the LAT...
DoItYourself.com, one of the more popular self help Web sites, is being purchased by El Segundo-based Internet Brands Inc., which...
Trouble with defaults?: The LAT is playing up new figures showing that default notices statewide jumped 145 percent in the...
January 23, 2007
Here's another example of a company knee-deep in backdated stock options trying to smooth things over in advance of the...
Ever since Tribune Co. went on the block, there have been rumbles about the head of News Corp. wanting a...
This is always a guess, at best, given the funny way that Hollywood determines profit and loss. But among the...
There's nothing like a positive earnings report to get Wall Street excited. Such was the case today with the Pasadena-based...
Disney and Michael Eisner get cited in Business 2.0's list of 101 clunkers for the year (Wal-Mart steals the show)....
Yes, it's true - being a multimillionaire means having "more adventurous and exotic" sex lives, according to a survey out...
Ratings have bounced around these last few years, from 33 million viewers in 2003, when "Chicago" took most everything, to...
Oscar surprise: They can't be thrilled over at DreamWorks and its new parent, Paramount Pictures. Yes, "Dreamgirls" scored eight Oscar...
It once housed the offices for Howard Hughes' aviation empire and then it was planned to be the headquarters for...
January 22, 2007
Three executives have been brought on to head CAA Sports, a new division of Century City-based Creative Artists Agency. The...
The big plunge in oil seems to be finally having its effect at the gas pump. For the week ended...
That's the rumble anyway, as reported by the Santa Barbara Independent Web site. Caruso, who is known for his shopping...
The trend among law firms is to shorten the name, but as you can imagine egos will sometimes get in...
DirecTV's playbook: Now that John Malone has control of the El Segundo-based satellite service, the question is what he plans...
January 20, 2007
The board came away from today's meeting in Chicago with basically nothing to report. Tribune said after the session that...
January 19, 2007
In my haste this morning, I neglected to note today's best Tribune-related story: The LAT's revelation that in the event...
The December jobless rate for Los Angeles County was 4.5 percent, up from the record-low of 4.2 percent the previous...
OK, so is MySpace a leader on Internet safety, as its chief security officer maintains, or is it guilty of...
You might think that being mentioned in the WSJ's House of the Week feature would almost guarantee lots of interest...
Dealbreaker (that's the Wall Street site of former Gawker editor Elizabeth Spears) came across this gem of a guy in...
Tribune follos: Not much to chew on in the second day stories, other than the WSJ identifying the private equity...
January 18, 2007
The 120-room hotel will be at the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire - the Trader Vic's location right next...
His contract with HarperCollins wound up on Court TV's Web site and is now making the online rounds. It was...
That breaks out to $19.30 for the newspapers and $12.40 for the television stations. The $31.70 a share total -...
Everything you might want to know about OC tearing up its venerable 714 area code gets a going-over in this...
Y'know, the undulating ones that keep popping up on Web site ads for Santa Monica-based LowerMyBills.com. The ones many of...
Just a quick roundup this morning: *Oops: Forgive the earlier typo (now corrected) - hed should be Time Time lays...
So now what do they do? The so-called auction has wound up with some crazy, jerry-rigged proposals - starting with...
January 17, 2007
LAT reports that the two billionaires would offer $500 million and some sort of debt package for a minority stake...
The WSJ reports tonight that at least two bid proposals for Tribune Co. are expected - one from Eli Broad...
Parent publisher HarperCollins made the announcement today. It's not a big surprise, considering that the imprint's impresario, Judith Regan, was...
Chicago Tribune reports that a consortium of Madison Dearborn Partners, Apollo Management and Providence Equity Partners could not agree on...
The Anaheim/Orange County Walk of Stars? Who knew? It's been around since November to honor folks who have made a...
Nah, I'm not talking about the sad-sack Tribune Co. auction. What's really popping today is an emerging bid from three...
We're talking more than 37 million viewers and a 36 share in the 18-49 bracket - up from last year's...
Orange prices jump: Wholesale prices anyway. LAT reports that naval oranges are now about $35 per bushel basket, almost double...
January 16, 2007
About 10,000 guards will become members of the Service Employees International Union. A deal was announced today among building owners,...
After several weeks of falling oil prices, gasoline is finally following suit. The Energy's Department's latest weekly survey shows that...
By quite a bit, actually. NBC's telecast of the increasingly pompous awards ceremony (it used to be a lot more...
Tonight kicks off the sixth season and of course the ratings will be through the roof. So why not buy...
Crop damage: It's looking like 70 percent of the orange crop - basically whatever was left on the trees -...
January 15, 2007
Just two days before the deadline to submit offers for Tribune Co., they're not sure whether to go after the...
Well, you knew this was one was coming. TMZ.com, the tabloid Web site started by former consumer watchdog Harvey Levin,...
It could be a while before anyone has a slant on how much damage was done during the weekend cold...
The fire was brought under control in a couple of hours this morning, but there's no word on possible damage...
We might get some clues this week on how contract negotiations will go between Socal's three major supermarket chains and...
Handicapping the Globes: "Babel" and "The Departed" are given the best odds by the LAT's Envelope for best drama at...
January 12, 2007
Shares of the L.A.-based music service, which has been on life support almost from the time it went legit, jumped...
One big reason for the increase is that the Port of Los Angeles now has the capacity to accept mega-ships...
The Mouse House finished the day at $35.21, up 22 cents and a new 52-week high. That's on top of...
Judith Regan might as well have a "kick me" sign taped on her backside. The latest NY publishing buzz centers...
Beckham mania: There was an avalanche of coverage this morning - much of it fawning, some of it skeptical, almost...
January 11, 2007
Sorry, I don't have photos (talk to the LAO bean counter), but I can assure you that Wall Street lawyer...
Get used to the Adidas logo - you're going to see it whenever you see the Galaxy (that's L.A.'s soccer...
And waiting... and waiting... The dozen or so members of Judith Regan's L.A.-based staff - many of them NY transplants...
No wonder Wall Street is pooh-poohing the backdating issues involving Santa Monica-based Activision and Agoura Hills-based THQ. Business is good....
Looks like pro soccer will be getting a new lease on life now that David Beckham is in the mix...
Well, it sure looks that way. The Business Journal is reporting this week that 496,512 homes were sold in L.A....
Magic Mountain not being sold: Six Flags has decided to hold onto the Valencia property, although it is selling three...
January 10, 2007
NY-based media writer Michael Wolff does a veeery long ramble in the February Vanity Fair about the newspaper business in...
Variety is reporting that she submitted her resignation shortly after noon. No announcement yet, probably because they haven't finished up...
C'mon admit it - you've never heard of International Aluminum Corp. Based in Monterey Park, it was founded in 1957...
Paramount shakeup: LAT is reporting that studio head Gail Berman will be out the door this week. She was brought...
January 9, 2007
THQ Inc., the Agoura Hills-based videogame company, says its independent investigation of stock option practices found no evidence of wrongdoing...
Does the name Benjamin Waisbren ring a bell? He had been the Hollywood mouthpiece for Wisconsin-based hedge fund Stark Investments...
There was a bit more to yesterday's ho-hum annoucement that the two co-CEOs of L.A.-based Guess would be getting new...
He's just introduced a bunch of new stuff, including a cellphone and Apple's iTV device for streaming video from PC...
It's not because of last night's brush fire, but a year-long slide in prices and home sales. The median price...
He's the big-name show biz attorney who was accused in a two-count indictment of paying jailed PI Anthony Pellicano at...
Health care plan: Lots of coverage on the governor's proposal for universal health coverage (it leads the NYT). One potential...
January 8, 2007
As expected, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his ground-breaking health insurance package that would require employers with 10 or more workers...
They're supposed to work lock-step with the price of gasoline, right? Well, not so far. The Energy Department's weekly survey...
Is this more evidence of a global warming kind of winter? At last check, it was 86 degrees in Westwood,...
This is not the best news for folks who rely on advertising for their livelihoods, but here 'tis: Ad spending...
Fortune's annual list doesn't have a single company headquartered in L.A. The closest is Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, which ranked 40th...
Free wireless Internet service is expanding to Little Tokyo, Bunker Hill, the Historic Core and the Financial District. Service could...
In case anyone is still wondering why stock options can be such a big deal, consider the case of Angelo...
Camarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., which was among the first companies implicated in the stock option scandal, has disclosed that its...
Week of conferences: Fasten your seat belts and prepare to be inundated with dispatches from the Consumer Electronics Show, the...
January 7, 2007
LAT Publisher David Hiller is offering some clues on the paper's move towards a more expanded Web presence. In a...
January 5, 2007
Two of the biggest events on the tech calendar each year are the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and...
Yeah, I know it's a bit of a stretch, but now that it's become the nation's third-largest automaker, Toyota seems...
That's the December median price in L.A. County, according to HomeData Corp., which assembles monthly numbers for the Business Journal....
For the television category anyway. The WSJ's Brooks Barnes looks at the past 10 years of TV winners (best drama,...
We're talking 23.3 percent of its value, or $9.17. The L.A.-based company lowered its 2007 sales growth expectations to between...
Strong jobs report: Actually, too strong to suit Wall Street. U.S. payrolls increased by 167,000 jobs last month - much...
Many of the outages appear to be on the Westside (my house included). The wires are quoting a DWP spokeswoman...
January 4, 2007
That means gas prices should follow suit over the next week or so. Oil finished today at $55.59 a barrel,...
Just when speculation about former Tribune CEO John Madigan was getting juicy, along comes word that he has left private-equity...
Shares are up 3.5 percent, most likely due to a favorable appeals court ruling. The Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant sued...
A deal could be announced by CBS CEO Les Moonves as early as next Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show,...
So what's behind Tribune Co.'s second-largest shareholder hiring buyout firm Blackstone Group as an advisor? A spokesman for the Robert...
Lukewarm sales: December was only a so-so month for many retailers - and pretty darn awful for a few. Locally,...
January 3, 2007
The stock fell 4.3 percent, to $46.26, probably in response to today's sharp drop in oil prices. In trading on...
Robert Newman, head of motion pictures at the Bev Hills talent shop, is leaving to join Endeavor as a partner....
No need to wait - just pick up a copy of the redesigned WSJ and click onto WSJ.com. Sure, the...
It will be headlined by the opening (finally!) of a 50,000-square-foot Ralphs on the ground floor of the Market Lofts...
It seems like such a no-brainer. With the studios developing new ways to download movies and TV shows onto PCs,...
Back in business: The financial markets reopen after the long, long weekend, and they're hopping. Wall Street appears optimistic about...
January 2, 2007
This had been in the works for more than two years, but the holdup was getting a carriage agreement with...
It's still not safe out there for homebuilders, not by a long shot. Lennar's announcement today that it will bail...
Going out over the next five years, Los Angeles County ranks second nationwide, behind Washington D.C., according to a Grubb...
That's the Los Angeles-based video Web site specializing in live, unfiltered broadcasts - and unlike YouTube or MySpace, it has...
New Yorker film critic David Denby examines whether the theater-going experience has a place in Hollywood's future - in spite...
'07 forecasts: The economy appears to be in decent shape, according to the flood of annual projections. The WSJ's survey...
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More than 1,000 Toyota and Lexus owners have reported sudden acceleration problems over the last decade, resulting in 19 deaths.
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As newspapers and television pull back from investigative reporting, foundations and other organizations are beginning to fill the void. One of the most interesting is Accountable California, a project of Local 721 of the Service Employees International Union.
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