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Good question. Bloomberg News reports today that the crackdown on backdating is stuck because SEC Chairman Christopher Cox hasn't decided how to penalize San Jose-based Brocade Communications Systems Inc., which is the first company that the agency has really gone after. If true, it could bog down other investigations (perhaps including L.A.-based KB Home, which announced last week that the SEC has launched an inquiry into its backdating policies). But Cox told reporters that the...
LA Biz Observed archive
Mark Lacter covered business, the economy and more here from 2006 until his death on Nov. 13, 2013.
The entire LA Biz Observed archive — more than 10,000 blog posts by Mark —
remains online and available.
January 2007
If only you had bought shares of the Calabasas-based mortgage company early Friday morning. The stock opened at $40.29 and then the FT comes out with this unattributed report that Countrywide was in discussions with Bank of America about some sort of relationship, maybe even a merger. Within a few hours, shares were trading at $45.26 - and a couple of analysts were saying that such a combination was plausible (it's pretty easy to get...
That seems to be the case with Citicorp joining up with Bev Hills-based Relativity Media to fund at least 45 studio films over the next five years, and possibly as many as 100. Variety said the overall investment could reach $1.1 billion, which would be one of the largest pools of outsider money to reach Hollywood. At least one studio, most likely Sony, is close to finalizing a deal with Relativity in which up to...
Several Socal ad agencies worked on spots that will be seen during Sunday's big game. It's a lot of car company stuff - not surprising since L.A. agencies handle tons of auto advertising work. Here's the lineup, courtesy of Ad Age: Client: General Motors Agency: Deutsch Los Angeles No. of spots: 3 Highlight: Robot is banished from an assembly plant after dropping a small screw. It's trying to show that GM cares about quality. Client:...
One defense analyst is calling it the most politicized military contract he has ever seen, which says a lot. It's the bruising battle between Boeing and Northrop for a potential $100 billion contract to replace the Air Force fleet of refueling tankers. The Air Force just came out with a final set of bidding terms that could keep Northrop in the game. The L.A.-based defense contractor had threatened to pull out because the terms seemed...
Economy surprises experts: The gross domestic product grew at a rate of 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter, despite concerns about the housing slump and disappointing holiday shopping. The experts had expected a 3 percent growth rate. Consumer spending was a big factor for the surprisingly strong showing. This is the snapshot number; the GDP will be revised a couple of more times. AP Hilton's strong fourth: Speaking of better-than-expected results, Bev Hills-based Hilton Hotels...
Remember Eurochow, that all-white, high-design super-snobby restaurant in the middle of Westwood Village? Owner Mr. Chow of Bev Hills fame told L.A. mag in 1999 that "it should be quite magical" - and indeed it went poof last year (over-priced, mediocre food with more than a touch of attitude will do you in every time). Now, Eater L.A. has found it on the market for just $700,000, although it includes a lease that doesn't run...
Deutsch, Los Angeles, will be picking up GM's Saturn account from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco - a piece of business worth around $200 million. GB&S had about 70 people working on this account alone, so expect the Deutsch office to be bulking up. Ad Age, which is reporting the story, says a formal announcement is expected in the next 24 hours. Saturn sold 226,375 vehicles last year in the U.S., up 6 percent...
If you bought a flat-panel TV during the holiday season, the following item might be too much to bear. iSuppli, the El Segundo-based research firm, has a new report out on pre-Super Bowl discounts - and we're talking deep discounts of as much as 50 percent. Retailers, already reeling from holiday markdowns, are also offering other come-ons, such as free or reduced-price installation and free surround sound. Some examples: •56-inch full HD DLP televisions priced...
How do you say that someone is getting laid without actually saying it? The WSJ has its hand with innuendo in a story last week on the friendship (oops) between CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo and ousted (did it again) Citicorp executive Todd Thomson. The paper isn't exactly reporting that the couple has had adulterous sex, mind you, but..., well, here's how the Journal lays (gosh darnit) it out: 1)Thomson and Bartiromo were having dinner at...
Yes, the Bev Hills-based talent agency has a marketing arm and it's in charge of launching Colorist, Revlon's new hair-coloring product. The story is even more interesting because Revlon has bought its first-ever Super Bowl ad to promote the product (it'll run in the 3rd quarter, typically not a great time during the game). The ad features Sheryl Crow, who signed on as the company's latest pitchwoman. From the WSJ: Hyping a beauty product for...
Alas, we win out over Detroit. Ad agency McCann Erickson was having such a tough time getting folks to move to its Detroit-area office that it's decided to combine the L.A. and Detroit operations. It's not as strange as it seems, considering that a lot of automotive advertising comes out of Socal. As part of the consolidation, reported by Ad Age, Steve Levit is being hired as chief creative officer - to be based in...
The decision by the former LAT editor to return to the NYT, announced this morning, will lead inquiring minds to conclude that the Broad/Burkle offer for Tribune Co. is on its last legs. Baquet, after all, would likely be the billionaires' choice to take over the LAT if their offer for Tribune is accepted. But in a NYT piece this morning, Baquet said his decision to leave L.A. should not be seen as a signal...
Countrywide's sober forecast: While shares of the Calabasas-based mortgage giant continue to rise on takeover rumors, CEO Angelo Mozilo expects a tough 2007 because of increases in borrower delinquences and continued credit deterioration. Countrywide said fourth-quarter profit fell 2.7 percent. In 2007, earnings are projected to be in the $3.80 to $4.80 range, which compares to Wall Street projections of $4.74. Mozilo did say that 2008 should see an upturn in the housing market. Still...
That's as in Gail Berman and Lloyd Braun, the former Paramount president and Yahoo media/entertainment head. They're launching a multimedia production house that will focus on TV but also include film and Internet stuff. Both have strong TV backgrounds - Berman over at Fox and Braun at ABC - and both are well connected (Braun is said to be tight with NBC's Jeff Zucker). Variety.com story says that they'll try to line up advertisers at...
They're due out Wednesday and they're not going to be pretty. Analysts expect fourth-quarter profit to be 46 cents per share, compared with 64 cents a year earlier and revenues little changed. About the best thing the NYT Co. has going for it has nothing to do with journalism - it's About.com. The research-oriented Web site is growing very well, though at a modest base (revenue of $22.1 million compared with $904 million companywide). The...
NY magazine provides us with waaaaay more up close and personal stuff than I, for one, was looking for on a Monday morning. But if you're in the mood, writer Vanessa Grigoriadis fills us in on a lot - including the 21-day liquid diet that Regan was on at the time of her firing (infusion of berry drinks, enzyme shots, hot tea, live juice, etc.). And get this - after ReganBooks' L.A. staff was being...
Not that you'll probably notice, but Tesoro Corp. is buying Royal Dutch Shell's Wilmington refinery, plus 250 filling stations, for $1.6 billion. Shell, along with the other major oil companies, have started to move away from refinery operations, preferring to focus on extracting oil (profit margins on refineries are not what they once were). Tesoro, meanwhile, has been bulking up its refinery operations in the West (it acquired its first West Coast refinery in 1968)....
Banking does not sound like a very exciting business. You bring in money at the lowest possible interest rate and then lend it or invest it at the highest possible interest rate. The difference is your profit, minus the cost of staff, rent, and equipment. Basically that’s it. There is nothing to podcast, no superswift software to market - just deposits and withdrawals. And yet, more than 150 banks in the U.S. opened their doors...
Paramount vs. DreamWorks: It's been a year since the "Dream team" was purchased by Paramount in a $1.6 billion deal, and the LAT explores the tensions between the two sides. It sounds like the DreamWorks folks just want to be left alone, while the Paramount folks - and we're mostly talking about studio head Brad Grey - want to be ruling their roost. Well, there's actually more to it: DreamWorks honcho David Geffen has made...
Yeah, that's Katie Holmes and apparently her reps at CAA have been trying to get her back into the game after she took time off to have a kid and marry a superstar. But it might not be so easy. WSJ's Kate Kelly reports that Holmes turned down the sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins," and other roles are not so easy to come by at the right price. Part of the problem is that she's...
Well, not yet, but the FT is reporting that the Calabasas-based mortgage giant is in talks with Bank of America about some sort of combination. It might be a joint venture in which Countrywide mortgages could be sold at BofA branches, or it could be a straightaway merger. The talks are said to be at an early stage, but it was enough chatter for Countrywide shares to jump more than 4 percent (shares had been...
This wasn't a great day for either THQ or Activision, Socal's two big videogame companies. Not a big surprise, really, considering Microsoft's announcement that it would be reducing shipments of its Xbox 360 to 12 million units from the previous target of 13-15 million. When the boxes don't sell, the titles are likely to suffer. "Video game publishers will be under pressure today after Microsoft cut its life-to-date shipment...There is investor concern about a reset...
OK, we have record earnings, monster box office, still-solid TV ratings, a stock that keeps going up - the new Walt Disney Co. seems to be playing at the top of its game. So is this what happens when Michael Eisner leaves? Well, yes and no. BW gets into the Mouse House to examine the Bob Iger administration and discovers a bunch of things, most all of them flattering (I smell the heavy hand of...
Tower trouble?: EMI's decision to merge Capitol Records and Virgin Records has locals worried that the music giant is prepping to move Capitol's operations to NY. That could open up Hollywood's landmark building to more condos. As you might recall, Argent Ventures bought the 13-story building last year for $50 million, leading to chatter about a condo conversion. Capitol wound up leasing office space from Argent. Aside from location, Capitol employees are being told that...
It's over the apparent backdating of the homebuilder's stock option grants - and what led to the ouster of long-time KB Chairman and CEO Bruce Karatz. This would rachet up what was earlier described as an informal inquiry. The company said in a filing that it's cooperating with the SEC. In dispute are four grants to Karatz between 1998 and 2001 that were dated when the stock was priced at low points. Karatz has agreed...
How about scented ads? The WSJ, no less, is on the verge of offering "rub and sniff" advertising, according to Ad Age, which got it from Journal Publisher L. Gordon Crovitz. "You actually have to rub some part of the ad," he said, noting that chocolate and perfume scents have already been perfected. USA Today is preparing to test a similar, scented run-of-press ad product. Heck, whatever works....
You can't keep hitting new highs forever. The Dow finished the day down 119 points - and as often happens with these big drops, the news wasn't great, but it wasn't especially terrible. The drug makers took in on the chin, as did Ford. And Microsoft, reporting after the market closed, had a 28 percent earnings drop. Home sales fell in December, a mild surprise but hardly earthshaking considering what the housing market was like...
Talk about your fast exits. When Judith Regan was fired and escorted out of her L.A. office, she was only allowed to take her purse, a source tells Rush & Molloy in the NY Daily News. And as with anybody's office, there was stuff: financial statements, her will, her children's report cards, unopened Christmas gifts and a 30-foot high painting of... Judith Regan. Turns out that fashion artist Alvaro stayed up for two nights to...
The luxury hotel will occupy the first 20 floors of a 48-story tower designed by Frank Gehry (for-sale residences on the upper floors). The 275-room hotel is expected to open in Summer 2010. The announcement was made by Related, the developer overseeing the Grand Avenue project, and it's a big deal because it's one of the first concrete examples of what can be expected as part of the overhaul. Other stuff that's planned for Grand...
Sometimes, it takes a crisis to get noticed. Such is the case with California's monster agriculture industry, which everyone living in cities and suburbs tends to ignore until there's an E. coli outbreak or a monster freeze. This year, there's been both. Not much can be done about the cold weather, but state officials want to step up oversight of California's food supply by having handlers - the folks who take produce from the farm...
The charges against Victor Jung, former treasurer of NBC Universal, have the makings of one (at least an episode of "Law & Order"). Jung is accused stealing more than $800,000 - some of which, according to prosecutors, he used for private flights to Miami, Antigua and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The indictment says that Jung, who had been responsible for collections and oversight of NBC Universal's bank accounts, moved money into the accounts of...
Tribune race shifting?: The Broad/Burkle offer appears to have a slight edge, according to the WSJ. But not enough to prevent Trbune's advisors from trolling for additional bidders. Apparently, they're going after folks who conducted due diligence on the company, but did not make an offer. One group approached was a consortium that includes private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners, long considered a favorite. But the consortium still ain't biting. Also, there's lots of chatter about...
You're not surprised, are you? The national Nielsen numbers show that Tuesday night's "American Idol" drew 32.6 million viewers on Fox, while Fox's coverage of the President's State of the Union address drew 10.5 million (it was apparently helped by the "Idol" lead-in). CBS and NBC were in the 8.5 million range and ABC had about 7 million. But what did most of the "Idol" viewers do when Bush came on? THR...
That's what 20th Century Fox wants to know, which is why the video site was served with a subpoena demanding that the identity of the user be disclosed. A second subpoena was served on a smaller video site called LiveDigital. And it's not just any old episode that was uploaded, but an episode that had yet to air on Fox. Also cited in the subpoena were episodes of "The Simpsons" that had already aired. The...
The deal would be worth nearly $700 million, covering the 38 percent of the Woodland Hills-based insurance company that AIG doesn't already own. The $19.75 offer would be a 19 percent premium over Wednesday's close. AIG, which is the world's largest insurer, says it has no interest in disposing of 21st Century. You might recall that 21st Century was originally called 20th Century and got its start in 1958 as a one-man operation. The idea...
Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I happened to notice two beefy business stories wind up on the LAT Web site yesterday at 5:30 or so. One was the huge restatement at Broadcom and the other was an update on the Tribune Co. sale. They were the kinds of stories - notable but not jaw-dropping - that would rarely, if ever, make it to LATimes.com that early. So here comes word that the Times...
DoItYourself.com, one of the more popular self help Web sites, is being purchased by El Segundo-based Internet Brands Inc., which is home to Autos.com, BestRate.com, CarsDirect.com, RealEstateABC.com, WikiTravel.com and lots of others. Terms not disclosed. In case Internet Brands doesn't ring a bell, the name Bill Gross might. Yeah, the same Bill Gross who founded the Internet incubator Idealab in the late 1990s, only to come crashing down when the dot-com bubble burst (remember eToys?)....
Trouble with defaults?: The LAT is playing up new figures showing that default notices statewide jumped 145 percent in the last three months of 2006. It's the largest number of default notices in a quarter since 1998, but L.A. appears less impacted than portions of the Inland Empire and Central Valley (Riverside-San Bernardino, Modesto, Stockton and Visalia have seen some of the biggest increases in the nation). These areas are vulnerable because of all the...
Here's another example of a company knee-deep in backdated stock options trying to smooth things over in advance of the feds. The Irvine-based chipmaker is reducing its income by $2.2 billion from 1998 through 2005 because of said options. That's by far the largest earnings hit of the 200 or so public companies implicated in the scandal. Broadcom said that co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III bears "significant responsibility" for the mess by failing to institute...
Ever since Tribune Co. went on the block, there have been rumbles about the head of News Corp. wanting a stake in Newsday, a Tribune property. He wouldn't be going for outright control of the paper because News Corp. owns the NY Post and there would be all kinds of regulatory hassles. Murdoch's motivation seems to be improving efficiencies by combining the print and back office operations at both papers. The Post has been gaining...
This is always a guess, at best, given the funny way that Hollywood determines profit and loss. But among the five Best Picture nominees, it's looking like "Little Miss Sunshine" did especially well. The film was made for $8 million (that doesn't include marketing and distribution, which can easily run two-thirds of the production cost), and it has raked in $86.5 million (domestic and foreign). "The Departed," the only big budget movie in the bunch,...
There's nothing like a positive earnings report to get Wall Street excited. Such was the case today with the Pasadena-based engineering and design company, which saw its stock shoot up more than 9 percent because first quarter profits were 11 cents a share higher than what analysts had been expecting ($1.01 compared with 90 cents). Net income for the period jumped 42.4 percent from a year ago, to $61.3 million. Not only that, Jacobs raised...
Disney and Michael Eisner get cited in Business 2.0's list of 101 clunkers for the year (Wal-Mart steals the show). The Mouse House citation was for its refusal to allow British parents to put an image of Winnie the Pooh on their child's gravestone. Disney apparently had warned the couple that carving Pooh's image would amount to a copyright breach, but after the story got out permission was granted. What sports. Eisner made it on...
Yes, it's true - being a multimillionaire means having "more adventurous and exotic" sex lives, according to a survey out today by Prince & Associates. The survey, which polled nearly 600 men and women with net worths of more than $30 million and a mean net worth of $89 million, found that 63 percent of the men and 88 percent of the women said wealth gave them better sex. The most surprising result found that...
Ratings have bounced around these last few years, from 33 million viewers in 2003, when "Chicago" took most everything, to 42.1 million in 2005, when Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" was named Best Picture. The NYT's Stuart Elliott says that viewership often depends on how familiar folks are with the movies and actors nominated (the Super Bowl, by contrast, draws around 90 million viewers every year, no matter who is playing). There's no way to...
Oscar surprise: They can't be thrilled over at DreamWorks and its new parent, Paramount Pictures. Yes, "Dreamgirls" scored eight Oscar nominations this morning - most of any film - but it was shut out of the Best Picture category. That will likely result in the loss of post-nomination box office business - and the box office so far has been good but not great (I can hear the pundits going at it already). Most of...
It once housed the offices for Howard Hughes' aviation empire and then it was planned to be the headquarters for DreamWorks (with city incentives totalling $70 million). Now, the LAT is reporting that two big real estate firms, Tishman Speyer and Walton Street Capital, are paying more than $200 million for land near the interchange of the San Diego and Marina freeways. The new plan is to build an office complex that will cater to...
Three executives have been brought on to head CAA Sports, a new division of Century City-based Creative Artists Agency. The division will be led by Howard Nuchow, who most recently was president of Peter Guber's Mandalay Sports Entertainment; David Rone, who had been executive VP of Fox Sports Networks; and Michael Levine, who had been president of Van Wagner Sports Group. The agency already represents more than 300 athletes (including Matt Leinart). Most recently, CAA...
The big plunge in oil seems to be finally having its effect at the gas pump. For the week ended today, the average price of a gallon of self-serve regular was $2.506 in the L.A. area, down from $2.556 last week and $2.620 the week before. All the cities surveyed by the federal Energy Information Administration saw declines, and in Cleveland, gas was averaging under $2 a gallon. Oil fell 86 cents on the NY...
That's the rumble anyway, as reported by the Santa Barbara Independent Web site. Caruso, who is known for his shopping center efforts (notably The Grove), would be purchasing the venerable Miramar from Ty Warner, billionaire founder of the Beanie Babies empire. Warner got into run-ins with the Montecito Association over his plans for the seaside property, but Caruso would likely have an easier time with the locals (at least that's what they're saying now). “We...
The trend among law firms is to shorten the name, but as you can imagine egos will sometimes get in the way of clarity and convenience. Case in point is what the WSJ's law blog has identified as the nation's longest law firm name: L.A's very own Ziffren, Brittenham, Branca, Fischer, Gilbert-Lurie, Stiffelman, Cook, Johnson, Lande & Wolf. Ziffren Brittenham is, of course, one of the town's most well-known entertainment law firms, handling A-list stars...
DirecTV's playbook: Now that John Malone has control of the El Segundo-based satellite service, the question is what he plans to do with it. The WSJ speculates that he could be after Rainbow Media, the Cablevision unit that owns the NY Knicks and Rangers, as well as Madison Square Garden. Having a strong sports component ties distribution and programming, and it makes the property more valuable. Speaking of which, Malone could already be thinking about...
The board came away from today's meeting in Chicago with basically nothing to report. Tribune said after the session that those outside bids received earlier in the week were being carefully considered by an independent special committee - and that was that. "We are carefully considering all alternatives for creating additional shareholder value," said William A. Osborn, chief executive of Northern Trust Corp. and Tribune's lead independent director. "These alternatives include potential transactions involving third...
In my haste this morning, I neglected to note today's best Tribune-related story: The LAT's revelation that in the event the company is sold, up to 50 senior executives and key employees would collect between $200 million and $269 million in exit money if they lost their jobs (why was this on lowly page 8 of the biz section?). Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons could be eligible for more than $10 million (covering salary, bonus and...
The December jobless rate for Los Angeles County was 4.5 percent, up from the record-low of 4.2 percent the previous month. That's still lower than the state's 4.8 percent rate in December and even with the national rate. It's also way under the 5.5 percent level from 2005. Total nonfarm employment in L.A. rose by 10,900, with retail trade making up the brunt of that increase in payrolls. Looking at year-over-year levels, there was a...
OK, so is MySpace a leader on Internet safety, as its chief security officer maintains, or is it guilty of negligence, recklessness, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, as claimed in a lawsuit filed by four families after their underage daughters were sexually abused by adults they met on the site? The suit, which we reported on yesterday, puts Hemanshu Nigam in the line of fire. Who he? Nigam is the aforementioned CSO, but there's more to...
You might think that being mentioned in the WSJ's House of the Week feature would almost guarantee lots of interest and a probable sale. But it doesn't. Of the 46 houses highlighted for the year ended last September, only 14 have sold - and at prices that average 16 percent less than the original asking price. Locally, a 2.5-acre property that singer Tom Jones bought for his parents in 1980 (four bedrooms, pool, views of...
Dealbreaker (that's the Wall Street site of former Gawker editor Elizabeth Spears) came across this gem of a guy in the NY edition of Craig's List (one of many similar postings on CL). Well, at least the schmo is upfront about what he wants - almost like he's ordering a sandwich. Wall Street Executive Searching for his Petite Princess You are 110lbs or 50kg or smaller. Size 0,1,2 and Shoe size 5,6,7,7 1/2 Only. You...
Tribune follos: Not much to chew on in the second day stories, other than the WSJ identifying the private equity firm Carlyle Group as the third bidder - but only for Tribune's TV stations. The Carlyle bid, expected to run a little over $4 billion, or nine times clash flow, could provide an escape valve for Tribune management, which is desperately trying to enhance shareholder value. By selling off the television unit, the company can...
The 120-room hotel will be at the corner of Santa Monica and Wilshire - the Trader Vic's location right next to the existing Beverly Hilton. The Waldorf replaces a condo project that had been slated for that site and which generated lots of community opposition because of congestion fears (as if there isn't any congestion there now). Apparently, the thinking is that a hotel would be more palatable than a condo, especially since under the...
His contract with HarperCollins wound up on Court TV's Web site and is now making the online rounds. It was filed in an amended complaint by Fred Goldman, as part of Goldman's efforts to recover any money that Simpson earned from "If I Did It." Slate's Timothy Noah goes through the numbers with some book agents and figures that HarperCollins is out at least $780,000 - a portion of Simpson's $1.1 million advance. HarperCollins may...
That breaks out to $19.30 for the newspapers and $12.40 for the television stations. The $31.70 a share total - just a little over what the stock was trading at - is way below what the Chandlers were looking for when the company was put on the block last year. The Broad/Burkle plan looks a little more attractive, with its $27 a share dividend. But the deal assumes that Tribune would still be worth $7...
Everything you might want to know about OC tearing up its venerable 714 area code gets a going-over in this OC Register blog started earlier this month. It's hard to imagine now, but Register columnist Jon Lansner points out that until 1951 Orange County fell into the 213 area (as did most of Socal). The 714 code stayed in place for 30-some-odd years, before San Diego and the Inland Empire broke away in the 80s...
Y'know, the undulating ones that keep popping up on Web site ads for Santa Monica-based LowerMyBills.com. The ones many of you think are silly and annoying - and which have drawn clicks by the millions. LowerMyBills, which is owned by Experian, spent $74.6 million on Web ads in the first 11 months of 2006. (Predictably, there's now a blog, lowermybillswatch.blogspot.com, that monitors and critiques the ads.) Matt R. Coffin, co-founder and CEO, tells the NYT...
Just a quick roundup this morning: *Oops: Forgive the earlier typo (now corrected) - hed should be Time Time lays of 250: No word yet on local bureaus, but the cuts include People magazine shutting down its offices in Chicago, Washington and Miami. Time, the flagship magazine, was expected to lose 70 people. NYT Rent hikes slowing: It's often what happens when housing prices start to fall. The average rent in L.A. County last year...
So now what do they do? The so-called auction has wound up with some crazy, jerry-rigged proposals - starting with the Broad/Burkle idea of essentially buying control of the Tribune for $500 million cash, plus $10.5 billion of borrowed money that would be used to pay shareholders a $27 a share dividend. That dividend, plus the $7 a share they say the company would be worth, post-dividend, adds up to $34, which is an OK...
LAT reports that the two billionaires would offer $500 million and some sort of debt package for a minority stake in Tribune. Under the plan, they could eventually have a 30 percent stake, plus several seats on the board. In addition, they would receive warrants that could give them an even bigger stake. It was the only proposal received by Tribune before tonight's bidding deadline, according to the Times (unnamed sources are being used in...
The WSJ reports tonight that at least two bid proposals for Tribune Co. are expected - one from Eli Broad and Ron Burkle and the other from the Chandler family. But they're weird offers. Broad and Burkle are proposing not an outright purchase but a recapitalization in which they get equity (amount not known). Under the Chandler plan, the family and private-equity partners would buy the papers - and hold a 51 percent stake -...
Parent publisher HarperCollins made the announcement today. It's not a big surprise, considering that the imprint's impresario, Judith Regan, was fired last month. Regan had moved her small staff out here with the hope of tying book deals with TV and movie projects, but her ill-advised arrangement with O.J Simpson was the beginning of the end. And the HarperCollins folks were always a little dubious about L.A. as a publishing town. Cal Morgan, editorial director,...
Chicago Tribune reports that a consortium of Madison Dearborn Partners, Apollo Management and Providence Equity Partners could not agree on valuation and thus did not submit a firm bid. A source told the paper that the group would still like to bid on Tribune, but that the offer would be below the company's share price, which closed today at $30.34. The same source said there's been no bid from the Chandler family, though there was...
The Anaheim/Orange County Walk of Stars? Who knew? It's been around since November to honor folks who have made a big impact on OC. Walt Disney got a star late last year and on Tuesday it was Carl Karcher, founder of Carl's Jr. Karcher, who just turned 90, was on hand for the festivities, along Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle and Andrew F. Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants Inc. As noted by the OC Register, Karcher...
Nah, I'm not talking about the sad-sack Tribune Co. auction. What's really popping today is an emerging bid from three huge real estate firms for Equity Office Properties Trust, which was two weeks from being taken over by the Blackstone Group in a $20 billion deal. CNBC and the WSJ (there could be others) are reporting that Starwood Capital Group Global LLC, Vornado Realty Trust and Walton Street Capital will announce their bid after the...
We're talking more than 37 million viewers and a 36 share in the 18-49 bracket - up from last year's opening show, which wasn't so bad either (35.5 million, 34 share). THR says it might have been the biggest premiere in the 20-year-history of Fox Broadcasting. None of the other network shows came close Tuesday night. Previous Invest in 'American Idol'...
Orange prices jump: Wholesale prices anyway. LAT reports that naval oranges are now about $35 per bushel basket, almost double the price since the freezing temps settled into California. One citrus broker expected retail prices to triple once the current inventories are gone. And it's not just oranges. Wholesale broccoli is going for $20 to $24 a carton, up from $16 to $18 last Friday. Iceberg lettuce is $5 to $7 higher. From the LAT:...
About 10,000 guards will become members of the Service Employees International Union. A deal was announced today among building owners, security guard contractors and the SEIU. The agreement applies to commercial office buildings over 75,000 square feet in L.A. County. The union has been trying to organize security guards for seven years. You might remember that Robert Maguire reached a separate deal with the SEIU early last year. LABJ...
After several weeks of falling oil prices, gasoline is finally following suit. The Energy's Department's latest weekly survey shows that the average price of self-serve regular in L.A. is 2.556 a gallon, down from $2.620 the week before. But there's a lot of catching up to do. Crude oil in NY closed today at $51.21 a barrel, a 19-minth low. Oil prices have plunged 16 percent this year alone and 35 percent from the record-high...
By quite a bit, actually. NBC's telecast of the increasingly pompous awards ceremony (it used to be a lot more fun when some of the stars got drunk and nobody took it seriously) averaged 20 million viewers and scored a hefty 15 share in the 18-49 demographic. That's the best showing in three years. Fox's "24" could only manage 15.7 million viewers and a 13 share in the 18-49 group - about even with its...
Tonight kicks off the sixth season and of course the ratings will be through the roof. So why not buy stock in CKX Entertainment, which owns 19 Entertainment, the company that produces "American Idol"? Writing in Blogging Stocks, Peter Cohan says the stock is overvauled - and with a P/E of 107, I would tend to agree with him. Cohan also notes a recent bout of insider selling (42 insider sales totaling 1.38 million shares...
Crop damage: It's looking like 70 percent of the orange crop - basically whatever was left on the trees - is ruined or severely damaged as a result of the current cold snap. That's about $700 million and would surpass the losses from the 1998 freeze. It's also certain to hike prices on oranges and lemons - that is, if supplies hold up. As reported yesterday on LABO, crops can be damaged if temperatures fall...
Just two days before the deadline to submit offers for Tribune Co., they're not sure whether to go after the parent of the LAT, according to the NYT. A story in tomorrow's editions notes that the Broad/Burkle team was still analyzing company data. “You could make the case that trying to sell now is like selling condos in Miami,” a Tribune investor told the paper. “Nobody wants to bid now because everyone thinks the price...
Well, you knew this was one was coming. TMZ.com, the tabloid Web site started by former consumer watchdog Harvey Levin, is being developed into a daily TV series. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and the Fox-owned Television Stations are teaming up on a multi-year deal. Launch date is fall 2007. Locally, it will be seen on both channels 11 and 13. They're also offering exclusive TMZ content for the TV station Web sites. Here's the...
It could be a while before anyone has a slant on how much damage was done during the weekend cold spell - perhaps a week or longer. The San Jose Mercury News reports that citrus crops in the Central Valley and Socal are most in jeopardy because the fruit was ready to pick. But reports over the weekend indicated that damage in the Central Valley was not as severe as had been feared. So who...
The fire was brought under control in a couple of hours this morning, but there's no word on possible damage to the 105-year-old Richmond refinery, which has a capacity of 225,000 barrels of crude oil a day and is Chevron's third-largest, according to Bloomberg News. Bay City News reported that the fire might have been connected to "leaky" equipment. Since a special, low-pollution process is required to refine gasoline in California, any disruption in the...
We might get some clues this week on how contract negotiations will go between Socal's three major supermarket chains and the United Food and Commercial Workers. Albertsons, now part of Supervalu Inc., will be talking with Local 324 in Orange County on a new contract, with Vons and Ralphs following after that. Unlike three years ago, the UFCW will be working out separate deals with the supermarket chains (though Vons and Ralphs reps are invited...
Handicapping the Globes: "Babel" and "The Departed" are given the best odds by the LAT's Envelope for best drama at tonight's Golden Globe awards, while "Dreamgirls," "Borat" and "Little Miss Sunshine" are the favorites in the best comedy or musical category. The Globes have become an early indicator of what the Oscar nominations might bring later this month - Hollywood's version of the Iowa caucuses in terms of its exaggerated influence. It's at the Beverly...
Shares of the L.A.-based music service, which has been on life support almost from the time it went legit, jumped nearly 8 percent today on word that it will become the exclusive music provider for AOL Music, replacing AOL Music Now. That's almost 350,000 AOL subscribers going to Napster, which itself only has 566,000 subscribers. It's all pretty nickel-and-dime stuff compared with Apple's iTunes, which has 70 percent of the business. Barbara Coffey at Kaufman...
One big reason for the increase is that the Port of Los Angeles now has the capacity to accept mega-ships carrying 8,000 containers, almost double the capacity on older ships. Volume should be up 5-6 percent, while the Port of Long Beach, which can also handle the really big ships, is looking at a 6-10 percent jump. As reported by California Apparel News, more megaships mean more capacity and that will probably result in lower...
The Mouse House finished the day at $35.21, up 22 cents and a new 52-week high. That's on top of a 52-week high on Thursday. Disney's ascent is getting to be an old story; in 2006, Bob Iger's first full year as CEO, shares increased 43 percent, compared with an 18 percent drop between 2000-2005. And since Disney is a Dow component (the only media stock in the 40-stock Dow Jones Industrial Average), it's played...
Judith Regan might as well have a "kick me" sign taped on her backside. The latest NY publishing buzz centers on "Because She Can," the debut novel written a Bridie Clark, a former ReganBooks editor that's due out next month. It sounds like the publishing industry's version of "The Devil Wears Prada": Claire Truman gets a job as an assistant to the tyranical Vivian Grant, who is described as "the most hotheaded, ruthless woman" in...
Beckham mania: There was an avalanche of coverage this morning - much of it fawning, some of it skeptical, almost all of it speculative. The LAT led the pack with 87 separate pieces and a reporting team of 342 (OK, I'm exaggerating a little). At least we got more financial details - specifically that the 5-year, $250 million deal that was bandied about yesterday is a pretty complicated arrangement - and relies largely on non-salary...
Sorry, I don't have photos (talk to the LAO bean counter), but I can assure you that Wall Street lawyer Usman Shaikh is one good-looking dude. ABC even had him on "One Ocean View," a short-lived reality series ("Usman's male chauvinist attitude may get him in trouble with the house's high-powered, opinionated females," reads the network flackery). Anyhoo, Defamer got its hands on an email announcing his plans to give up the NY scene and...
Get used to the Adidas logo - you're going to see it whenever you see the Galaxy (that's L.A.'s soccer team in case you're still wondering). Now that David Beckham is on board, expect the apparel maker to cut a sponsorship deal of some sort with the team (Beckham already gets $10 million a year through a separate arrangement with Adidas). The Adidas name, for openers, will be more prominently displayed on uniforms than the...
And waiting... and waiting... The dozen or so members of Judith Regan's L.A.-based staff - many of them NY transplants - are sitting tight as honchos at HarperCollins (the publishing house that handles Regan's imprint) figure out to do with the office and staff. It's a good bet that the operation will be shut down. Remember, the whole idea of moving to wacky Socal was Regan's (packaging books with movies and TV shows) - and...
No wonder Wall Street is pooh-poohing the backdating issues involving Santa Monica-based Activision and Agoura Hills-based THQ. Business is good. TQH raised its sales and profit estimate for the third quarter ended Dec. 31 and also raised its guidance for the fiscal year ending in March. Meanwhile, UBS raised its price target on Activision to $22 from $18. “We believe that among video game companies Activision is best positioned to benefit from the growth in...
Looks like pro soccer will be getting a new lease on life now that David Beckham is in the mix - and playing for the Galaxy to boot! It's hard to see how the guy doesn't become a Kobe-like celebrity, especially with the good looks, beautiful wife, stupendous wealth and worldwide affection. If only he didn't have to play, er, soccer. "David Beckham will have a greater impact on soccer in America than any athlete...
Well, it sure looks that way. The Business Journal is reporting this week that 496,512 homes were sold in L.A. County last year. Sound a bit high? It's more like 98,975, according to Dataquick, which provides housing data for the LAT and most other news organizations. Dataquick's final numbers for 2006 should be out in a day or two. The Business Journal numbers are provided by HomeData Corp., a Melville, New York-based company that tracks...
Magic Mountain not being sold: Six Flags has decided to hold onto the Valencia property, although it is selling three of its water parks and four of its theme parks. The company had put a bunch of its properties on the block last year in an effort to reduce $2.2 billion of debt, but there had been reports of less-than-spectacular offers. Under new management, Six Flags has been trying to attract families and not rowdy...
NY-based media writer Michael Wolff does a veeery long ramble in the February Vanity Fair about the newspaper business in which he wonders why the billionaire boys club of Broad, Burkle, Geffen, Welch and Greenberg would be interested in buying such an out-moded product. One possible explanation is that these guys don't know much about the business. He has an off-the-record interview with "one of the really, really rich men who are lining up to...
Variety is reporting that she submitted her resignation shortly after noon. No announcement yet, probably because they haven't finished up her separation deal. LAT broke the story this morning (see Wednesday morning headlines below). The chatter is that she'll be replaced as president by Brad Weston, currently co-president of production. *Paramount finally made the announcement this afternoon. Nikki Finke says that Berman is leaving with no studio production deal, which is very unusual. Finke also...
C'mon admit it - you've never heard of International Aluminum Corp. Based in Monterey Park, it was founded in 1957 as an aluminum window manufacturer and expanded over the years to include all kinds of commercial and residential products. We're talking 14 operating subsidiaries and 1,700 employees all over the U.S. And it's public - at least for the moment. International Aluminum is being sold to SF-based public equity firm Genstar Capital for about $228...
Paramount shakeup: LAT is reporting that studio head Gail Berman will be out the door this week. She was brought on less than two years ago to help kick-start the place, but things never clicked. Critics found her "abrasive" (yeah, like Hollywood is filled with warm and fuzzy types), while Berman herself felt constricted by Paramount Chairman Brad Grey. The Times reports that Paramount executives Rob Moore and Brad Weston could move up. Lots on...
THQ Inc., the Agoura Hills-based videogame company, says its independent investigation of stock option practices found no evidence of wrongdoing - that is, the deliberate backdating of options - but it used "incorrect measurement dates" and will thus record an $11 million noncash charge. Basically, the company says it messed up, but didn't do anything illegal. Wall Street seems satisfied (boy, that didn't take much). "In our view, the company is very close to resolving...
Does the name Benjamin Waisbren ring a bell? He had been the Hollywood mouthpiece for Wisconsin-based hedge fund Stark Investments and managed to convince his midwestern bosses that show biz was like any other investment, putting aside all those pretty, skinny people. Then came Stark's unfortunate decision to finance "The Poseidon Adventure," and Waisbren was out the door. Now, the hedge fund is using Ryan Kavanaugh, another high-octane middleman who shuttles between Hollywood and the...
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 roles. The press release noted that Maurice Marciano would now be chairman and Paul Marciano would be CEO and vice chairman. Well, it turns out that in addition to the new jobs there are new employment contracts. An 8-K filed on Monday provides a few details, such as both brothers getting a base salary of...
He's just introduced a bunch of new stuff, including a cellphone and Apple's iTV device for streaming video from PC to TV (hinted at last year) and a widescreen iPod. Cool. Here's an early AP story. *Edited Post *For what it's worth: WSJ.com asks in a forum whether the iPhone will be a hit like the iPod or a flop like the Newton. As of 4 p.m., 6,287 votes had been cast and 83 percent...
It's not because of last night's brush fire, but a year-long slide in prices and home sales. The median price of an existing home in the 90265 Zip code fell almost 15 percent in 2006 (it’s still at $1.1 million), and home sales dropped 45 percent (846 from 1,545). Keep in mind that many of Socal's high-priced areas took it on the chin last year while lower-priced neighborhoods did much better. That's what often happens...
He's the big-name show biz attorney who was accused in a two-count indictment of paying jailed PI Anthony Pellicano at least 100 grand to record phone conversations between Lisa Bonder and her attorney while she was embroiled in a child support dispute with Christensen's client, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. Anyway, Nikki Finke is a little bothered about Christensen staying on as managing partner of Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro - and even trumpeting the...
Health care plan: Lots of coverage on the governor's proposal for universal health coverage (it leads the NYT). One potential consequence: higher premiums. That's because if you insure everyone, you'll be dealing with customers who are in poorer health than current enrollees. Some health plans might leave the market altogether, according to the LAT. Reaction from business groups is generally mixed, with small business owners employing more than 10 workers the most worked up (they'll...
As expected, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his ground-breaking health insurance package that would require employers with 10 or more workers to either provide coverage or pay into a state-run program. And, as expected, small business owners are in a lather over the plan, calling it a "job tax" and vowing to lead the opposition. It's not just business owners who face an extra cost - under the governor's plan, doctors would be taxed 2 percent...
They're supposed to work lock-step with the price of gasoline, right? Well, not so far. The Energy Department's weekly survey has the average price of self-serve regular in the L.A. area at $2.620 a gallon, up from $2.587 a week earlier. And get this: crude-oil futures finished the day at $56.09 a barrel, down 22 cents. Prices have fallen 13 percent in the past year....
Is this more evidence of a global warming kind of winter? At last check, it was 86 degrees in Westwood, 86 downtown (4 degrees shy of the record), 87 in Anaheim and 84 in Santa Monica. They're expecting the warm temperatures to continue through tomorrow, and then it's supposed to get darn right chilly by the end of the week, with highs in the upper 50s and a chance of rain. *Er, it's now 88...
This is not the best news for folks who rely on advertising for their livelihoods, but here 'tis: Ad spending will grow a mere 2.6 percent this year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. That would be the smallest gain since the 2001 recession. Online advertising will continue to see the strongest growth, attracting 7.2 percent of all ad dollars, compared with 6.5 percent last year (still pretty limited in total revenues). Meanwhile, newspapers are expected...
Fortune's annual list doesn't have a single company headquartered in L.A. The closest is Thousand Oaks-based Amgen, which ranked 40th (three weeks vacation after first year, plus 17 paid holidays). Seven other companies with L.A. County locations (but not HQ'd here) get mentioned, including the law firm Arnold & Porter, the Four Seasons hotel, IKEA, Medtronic, Yahoo, American Fiedelity Assuarance and Vision Service Plan . Here are the top 10 - read 'em and weep:...
Free wireless Internet service is expanding to Little Tokyo, Bunker Hill, the Historic Core and the Financial District. Service could be available in Little Tokyo as soon as next month, pending City Council approval. As reported by the Downtown News, the Wi-Fi program is an effort by the Community Redevelopment Agency to promote downtown neighborhoods. Currently, there's free Wi-Fi in Pershing Square, along with several business pockets that include the L.A. Convention Center....
In case anyone is still wondering why stock options can be such a big deal, consider the case of Angelo Mozilo, chairman and CEO of Countrywide Financial. In an SEC filing, Calabasas-based Countrywide disclosed that Mozilo exercised 70,000 shares last Thursday for $9.60 each - and then sold them the same day for $42.22 each, which is what Countrywide had been trading for. Profit: $2.3 million. And this is just the tip of the compensation...
Camarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., which was among the first companies implicated in the stock option scandal, has disclosed that its recently appointed CEO, Christopher Gardner, and co-founder Ira Dehimy received backdated options. Daily Journal reporter Gabe Friedman got the story, based on an SEC filing that has the two agreeing to amend existing unexercised stock options. The Jan. 5 filing notes that a special committee of the company's board did not find evidence that Gardner...
Week of conferences: Fasten your seat belts and prepare to be inundated with dispatches from the Consumer Electronics Show, the Macworld conference and the Detroit auto show. Sony is among the first out of the box at CES with plans to sell a device that will connect high-definition content streaming off the Internet with the next generation of TVs. Connecting PCs to TVs is expected to be a big theme. NYT Satellite in a box:...
LAT Publisher David Hiller is offering some clues on the paper's move towards a more expanded Web presence. In a memo sent out to employees this weekend, he mentions the importance of posting breaking news online, "freshened all the time," while using the print edition to "engage a different focus of unique story-telling, analysis and context." (The newspaper of the future was the subject of Tim Rutten's column on Saturday.) From the Hiller memo: It...
Two of the biggest events on the tech calendar each year are the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the Macworld Conference in SF, and the NYT seems prepped to offer extended coverage on its Bits blog. Authors are Damon Darlin, David Pogue, Eric Taub and Brad Stone. Both events are certain to generate lots of news, with CBS CEO Les Moonves expected to announce some sort of partnership with Google at CES on...
Yeah, I know it's a bit of a stretch, but now that it's become the nation's third-largest automaker, Toyota seems to be taking things up a notch. BW reports that it will be introducing a concept sports car at next week's Detroit auto show - a model about the size of a Nissan 350z sports car but with an edgier look. They're talking about a 400 horsepower hybrid for a target sticker price of around...
That's the December median price in L.A. County, according to HomeData Corp., which assembles monthly numbers for the Business Journal. The median price has been stuck at that level since last spring. But inventory continues to climb; in December it reached 8.3 months, meaning that it would take that amount of time to sell all the homes on the market at the current pace of sales. The story closely examines the local housing market last...
For the television category anyway. The WSJ's Brooks Barnes looks at the past 10 years of TV winners (best drama, best comedy, best actor and best actress categories) and finds that the winning shows rarely see a boost in ratings. That compares with the categories for movies, in which the winners are often propelled into Oscar contention. Ratings for "Lost," last year's winner for best TV drama, are down 18 percent this season. Also last...
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 6 and 10 percent (that's down from an earlier estimate of 10 to 15 percent). The reason being cited is slower sales in Mexico City, where Herbalife is going through a mini-scandal involving unregistered distributors selling its nutritional products. To give you an idea of what a big deal Herbalife is in Mexico, the company's...
Strong jobs report: Actually, too strong to suit Wall Street. U.S. payrolls increased by 167,000 jobs last month - much higher than the 115,000 forecast in a Dow Jones survey - and that's gotten the equity markets concerned that the Fed might decide to raise interest rates. That's bad news for stocks and explains why the Dow was down around 75 points at 9:30. (Some sour earnings news from Motorola isn't helping.) The jobless rate...
Many of the outages appear to be on the Westside (my house included). The wires are quoting a DWP spokeswoman as saying that the outages could last anywhere from eight to 10 hours (though I wouldn't hold anyone to that). Lots of fallen trees, downed live wires - the usual for this kind of wind storm. Venice, Northridge, west Los Angeles, Westwood, Westchester, Chatsworth, Palms, Silver Lake and San Pedro are among the areas hit....
That means gas prices should follow suit over the next week or so. Oil finished today at $55.59 a barrel, its lowest close since June, 2005. Oil prices (really oil futures) have dropped nearly 30 percent since July 17, when they were at $78.40 a barrel. The explanation continues to be warm weather in the northeast, which has lowered demand for heating oil and boosted inventories. (By the way all you Al Gore fans, 2007...
Just when speculation about former Tribune CEO John Madigan was getting juicy, along comes word that he has left private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners LLC. This seemed like a big deal because Madison Dearborn is teaming up with other private equity firms in a bid for Tribune Co. (see earlier post). And it seemed like an even bigger deal, considering that Madigan was just named to be on an advisory committee for the Robert R....
Shares are up 3.5 percent, most likely due to a favorable appeals court ruling. The Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant sued Ariad Pharmaceuticals last year, seeking to invalidate a patent that Ariad might be able to use against two of Amgen's arthritis drugs. A motion to dismiss the suit was denied and a federal appeals court has refused to hear an early appeal. Amgen stock is also being helped by positive notices on its collaboration with...
A deal could be announced by CBS CEO Les Moonves as early as next Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, according to Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby. In a research note this morning, he speculates that the deal with Google could involve distribution of CBS content through YouTube. And there's a ton of video content available. CBS already distributes "Survivor" and "CSI" through Google Video. I'm not sure where Jacoby is getting this tip,...
So what's behind Tribune Co.'s second-largest shareholder hiring buyout firm Blackstone Group as an advisor? A spokesman for the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation said a bunch of options were being considered, including the foundation making its own offer for Tribune or the company's individual assets. Other, more likely avenues include selling their shares on the open market. (An SEC filing this morning indicates as much). Up until now, Tribune management has been able to...
Lukewarm sales: December was only a so-so month for many retailers - and pretty darn awful for a few. Locally, City of Industry-based Hot Topic saw same-store sales fall 5.1 percent. The teen-oriented chain, which has been struggling for some time, lowered its fourth-quarter earnings outlook. Its stock has taken a huge hit this morning, off 17 percent, to $11.23, in early trading. Meanwhile, L.A.-based Guess had a 9.6 percent jump in December same-store sales,...
The stock fell 4.3 percent, to $46.26, probably in response to today's sharp drop in oil prices. In trading on the NY Mercantile Exchange, oil closed at $58.32 a barrel, down $2.73. Deutsche Bank analyst Paul Sankey expects "very weak U.S. oil demand" in 2007 and forecasts that prices will average around $62 (perhaps offering a clue on gasoline prices). Oil plunged because of warmer-than-normal temps across most of the country. That means less demand...
Robert Newman, head of motion pictures at the Bev Hills talent shop, is leaving to join Endeavor as a partner. Also going to Endeavor is TV agent Matt Solo, who left ICM last month. Newman's departure is considered a big blow to ICM's film side (his specialty is art house stuff and he's helped nuture many careers in the indie world). The departures suggest that ICM's $70 million acquisition of Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann six...
No need to wait - just pick up a copy of the redesigned WSJ and click onto WSJ.com. Sure, the print edition of the Journal looks dramatically different, what with the narrower pages, added color and more modular layout. But the real difference is in the content - lots of analysis and relatively little spot news. More and more, the breaking news is being found on the Journal's Web site (why do you think it...
It will be headlined by the opening (finally!) of a 50,000-square-foot Ralphs on the ground floor of the Market Lofts on Ninth and Flower. The absence of a downtown supermarket is often cited as a drag on downtown development efforts - so much so that the Downtown News says it's considered "a practical and psychological turning point." Well, maybe, but at this point I'd be just as concerned about a pronounced pullback in the condo...
It seems like such a no-brainer. With the studios developing new ways to download movies and TV shows onto PCs, what about a gadget that transfers content from PCs to television sets? I mean, who wants to watch "Dreamgirls" on a computer monitor, right? The trouble, according to the WSJ, is that consumers don't seem interested, at least for now. A Forrester Research survey found that 80 percent of the respondents say they wouldn't buy...
Back in business: The financial markets reopen after the long, long weekend, and they're hopping. Wall Street appears optimistic about the New Year and you can see it in the opening trades of 2007. Better-than-expected December sales at Wal-Mart doesn't hurt either. At around 7:30, the Dow was up more than 100 points. Union town: It would have been unlikely two or three decades ago, but L.A. unions are said to have a "brand advantage"...
This had been in the works for more than two years, but the holdup was getting a carriage agreement with Time Warner Cable - L.A.'s primary cable company, but even more important, one of NY's two primary cable companies. What's the point of having a business channel if you can't be seen on Wall Street and Madison Avenue? Well, it's looking like Fox parent News Corp. finally has its deal in which TW will pay...
It's still not safe out there for homebuilders, not by a long shot. Lennar's announcement today that it will bail out of a deal involving 15,000 acres of Newhall Land & Farming is another bearish signal about California homebuilding through 2007. Lennar, along with its partner, LNR Property, are selling a 62 percent stake in the LandSource joint venture to MW Housing for $1.3 billion. (MW Housing is co-managed by real estate investment management company...
Going out over the next five years, Los Angeles County ranks second nationwide, behind Washington D.C., according to a Grubb & Ellis forecast that's out today. The ranking is based on a score that covers 16 demographic, economic and property variables. Orange County was in the No. 7 spot. L.A. was tops in the industrial market (by a lot), third in the retail market and second in the multi-housing market. The numbers are not that...
That's the Los Angeles-based video Web site specializing in live, unfiltered broadcasts - and unlike YouTube or MySpace, it has no monitors in case things go too far. And apparently they have. From the NYT: Even enthusiastic Stickam users say the site often feels lawless. “People are very vulgar and like to ‘get their jollies’ from harassing people, mainly girls, to take off their clothes,” said Chelsey, a 17-year-old user from Saskatchewan in Canada, who...
New Yorker film critic David Denby examines whether the theater-going experience has a place in Hollywood's future - in spite of iPods, DVDs, film downloading, etc. The answer, basically, is yes, but the 8,200-word piece offers several areas of concern, including the lack of digital technology in most theaters, the "platform agnostic" attitude of young movie-watchers (they don't much care whether the film is at the cinepelex or on a cell phone), and the often-unpleasant...
'07 forecasts: The economy appears to be in decent shape, according to the flood of annual projections. The WSJ's survey of economists expect the housing slowdown to create only limited problems (a view held by many analysts), while the service sector should continue to do well. On average, the economists predict that inflation-adjusted gross domestic product will grow at an annualized rate of 2.3 percent in the first half of 2007 and 2.8 percent in...
Mark Lacter
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.The multi-talented Mark Lacter
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