Archive by Month
August 31, 2007
We're talking about Bill Lerach, the retiring class-action attorney who could be on his way to jail over allegations of...
After jumping 6 percent in premarket trading, the Calabasas-based mortgage lender slid back during the session and finished with a...
No such thing as dog days for our favorite crisis manager. L.A.-based Sitrick & Co. is now working for Democratic...
You know the ones – they’re usually shown around half time of a football game and feature pretty pictures of...
In the fourth issue of New Angeles, Maxwell Harwitt examines whether developers in Hollywood and downtown really give a hoot...
Kind of. Confidentiality agreements prevent the 40 kids participating in the upcoming reality series - and their parents - from...
More heat: And with it, more strain on the state's power system, though demand will probably ease up as lots...
August 30, 2007
No doubt the Labor Day timing was just coincidental, but the California Supreme Court have given workers a pretty big...
Why would the CEO of a company take a leave of absence in the midst of an internal investigation? Don't...
That's what the chatter suggests - and considering that the stock is trading at a whopping 10 percent below the...
Remember the couple who arranged in February to tie the knot at Sky Studios, the glam Greenwich Village property with...
This might seem like a strange time to set up a buyout fund, but Ken Moelis appears to be moving...
Labor Day rush: The Auto Club is looking at 3.1 million Socalians taking trips during the long weekend, 80 percent...
August 29, 2007
Actually, shoves is more like it. The New York senator told the Calabasas mortgage lender today to stop paying brokers...
Never mind about the stock market being up more than 200 points - Wall Street's really big story today concerns...
Like your typical rich guy (and we're talking $4.5 billion at last estimate), David Murdock has lots of opinions about...
Today and Thursday have been declared "Flex Alert Days," which means setting thermostats at 78 degrees or higher, leaving drapes...
L.A. incomes rising: The local economy is in decent shape. Really. The latest numbers from the Census Bureau show that...
August 28, 2007
If you're a Hollywood hotshot (and a guy), you might wind up in an apartment house on Ocean Avenue near...
With Labor Day weekend fast approaching, we're seeing a bunch of end-of-summer laments about how bad airline service has been...
The Writers Guild is now making noises about working arrangements for the upcoming CBS reality show – as well as...
Not to seem glib about it, but some companies change to accommodate customer demands and some just sit there like...
Real estate agent Kirsten Kemp tells Michael Schneider (Variety, Franklin Avenue) that even in this market you can buy a...
No more Wonder Bread: Interstate Bakeries is shutting down its four Socal bakeries in Glendale, Pomona, San Diego and in...
August 27, 2007
To be precise, $2.741 in the L.A. area, according to the latest government survey - just in time for the...
The Business Journal's annual list of auto dealerships in L.A. County doesn't usually make for suspenseful reading. Longo Toyota in...
The plan is for "day-and-date" delivery in NY and other key cities along the East Coast - kind of an...
There's not much of a comparison - Circuit City is the one that fired its higher-paid workers and is struggling...
Yup, that's just what this town needs – part of the proposed "density bonus" plan that would allow developers to...
Gateway sold - again: The Irvine-based PC company is being acquired by Taiwan's Acer Inc. for $710 million. In addition,...
August 26, 2007
How else do you describe the goings on at the Calabasas-based mortgage lender, at least based on Gretchen Morgenson's Sunday...
August 24, 2007
No wonder the 84-year-old chairman of Viacom thinks he can live 50 years - and keep running the company. Sumner...
Our friend Michelle Leder at footnoted.org has come across a weird passage in the CBS honcho’s new contract. It notes...
You have to wonder which strategy is more clueless - the Bush plan for Iraq or the Villaraigosa plan for...
They're sold under the "Genuine Sweet Baby Carrots" brand at Ralphs, Trader Joe's and other stores. Los Angeles Salad Co.,...
In a matter of speaking. Forbes has come out with its annual list of Best Cities For Singles, and Los...
Countrywide's savior?: There's still all kinds of discussion about the effectiveness of Bank of America's $2 billion investment in the...
August 23, 2007
I'll be out of pocket for at least the day....
August 22, 2007
Variety is reporting this afternoon that giant concert promoter Live Nation will not be renewing its deal with Ticketmaster, a...
We all know that the wealthy among us - and we're talking filthy rich here - operate in a different...
Yesterday the baseless speculation centered on Warren Buffett, but the WSJ, citing sources, just reported that the bank giant will...
The new boss of the LAT - and of all Tribune for that matter - was at the paper last...
Anderson had been publisher of the Register, but also a key executive for the paper's parent, Freedom Communications. He'll be...
State of the market: To cut or not to cut - that is the question. After lots of buzz on...
August 21, 2007
The financial folks are having some fun today over the vague possibility that Warren Buffett might want a piece of...
It wasn't pretty, but they finally agreed on a $145 billion spending plan. Now the state can begin paying billions...
This time, Disney is under the gun. The advocacy group China Labor Watch today cited the Mouse House as among...
One of today's big stories is the jump in July foreclosures, as measured by the Irvine-based firm RealtyTrac. It's important...
Tribune deal approved: By shareholders, that is. They're selling their shares as part of an $8.2 billion buyout that's led...
August 20, 2007
So does DreamWorks. The decision to bypass the more popular Blu-ray format came as a surprise among the folks who...
The Calabasas-based mortgage lender was downgraded to "underperform” by KBW Inc., which said in a note that a liquidity crisis...
Stocks are down, based both on the banks putting aside more money for sour loans, and on the perception that...
OC Register columnist Jon Lansner compares the current market with the disastrous 1989-91 stretch and finds, well, some unsettling patterns,...
The week after: The market was mostly flat this morning as Wall Street tries to stabilize after the last few...
August 17, 2007
How bad? An engineering consultant told the Downtown News that it's "seismically sick." Others warn that an earthquake could bring...
I know, I know – we’re supposed to be ticked off at the Fed for easing the discount rate and,...
It’s kind of a watching-paint-dry report, with July joblessness falling to 4.8 percent from 4.9 percent in June. Statewide, the...
Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson says that those revenues are moving over to national media. In retail advertising, for...
Now we have Banc of America analyst Robert Lacoursiere upping his rating on the troubled mortgage lender to "neutral" from...
Wall Street reacts to Fed: The Dow skyrocketed more than 300 points on news of the Fed's decision to lower...
August 16, 2007
Try Countrywide bonds, which Deal Journal reports are being priced at between 25 percent and 35 percent. Of course, they...
Shaky market: There are reports that the Federal Reserve is again pumping more money into the system, so we'll see...
The nation's largest mortgage lender drew down an $11.5 billion credit facility to boost its cash position. The move, announced...
August 15, 2007
In its headline, the London Telegraph puts it indelicately, but accurately: "Bankruptcy scare for Countrywide, biggest US home lender, as...
CEO Kevin Sharer was trying to put the best face on today's news of a 12 percent to 14 percent...
Tribune says it's all good: The company insists that the financing to go private is set, despite a stumbling stock...
August 14, 2007
When companies get into big trouble, there are established rules for containment. You must act quickly, act cohesively and try...
There are two separate recalls. One is for 436,000 die-cast cars worldwide that contain levels of lead paint considered impermissible....
So what else is new, right? L.A. County home sales fell 23 percent in July from a year earlier, which...
You have to at least wonder, considering that the stock is down this morning almost 4 percent - and has...
Mattel announces recall: And it's a big one, although different stories have different figures. The WSJ says more than 9...
August 13, 2007
And the unnamed toy in question may contain excessive amounts of lead paint. Yikes. The AP couldn't get many specifics,...
Home sales freeze?: August could be very slow - perhaps the slowest month on record - because mortgage lenders have...
August 08, 2007
Have some non-LABO work to attend to. Be back in a few days....
Shares of the El Segundo-based company are down 1.5 percent in early trading, another zig in a choppy trading pattern...
August 07, 2007
L.A.’s "cram 'em in" City Council decided today that downtown needs larger developments, denser developments - developments so tight that...
Former Brocade Communications Systems CEO Gregory Reyes becomes the first CEO to be convicted by a jury as part of...
By now, this is old news in the hotel world, but Ali Kasikci has resigned as managing director of the...
L.A.-China flights: More nonstop service from Los Angeles to Shanghai would be a very big deal for the increasing numbers...
August 06, 2007
Redundancy is a dangerous thing in today's media world. I'm sure Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News have separate missions...
That's what Nikki Finke is reporting on Deadline Hollywood - and it might explain why she was a no-show at...
Time to regroup?: Well, perhaps, but credit worries that have plagued the markets these last few sessions are not going...
August 04, 2007
Those are the lighter-side-of-the-news features that have been a hallmark of the WSJ since 1941 (credit goes to Barney Kilgore,...
Is it any surprise that the industries relying on undocumented workers aren't thrilled by the government's hard-headed orders to have...
August 03, 2007
Shares of the Calabasas-based mortgage lender plunged another 6.6 percent. The stock closed at $25, which is as low as...
The stretch between noon and 1 p.m. really shouldn't be so painful. Grab a sandwich and take a break, right?...
Relations between Sumner and his daughter Shari were apparently cordial enough for the two to have dinner the other night...
Lukewarm jobs report: Nonfarm payrolls increased just 92,000 in July, down from 126,000 in June and well below the average...
August 02, 2007
How dare I raise the specter of companies actually benefiting from yesterday's bridge collapse in Minnesota. But there's a reason...
Going beyond this week's terrible earnings report, Michael Perry sent out an email to employees of the Pasadena-based mortgage lender...
Well, it's only the recall of nearly a million toys by El Segundo-based Mattel, one of Socal's biggest public companies....
Figuring out the market: Good luck. Just as Tuesday's session took a nosedive in the last hour or so, Wednesday's...
August 01, 2007
CEOs aren't the only executives who report suspiciously high compensation packages. Let's take Brian Hodous, who joined Santa Monica-based Activision...
The local guy has sold it to the Bev Hills developer. Money problems, or so they're saying. Gary Dwight, a...
Well, what do you expect when mortgage lenders were practically begging to cut a deal - even if you really...
Tough day?: Stocks are fluctuating in early trading, with bargain hunters looking for deals and everyone else worried that problems...
© 2003-2008 • About LA Observed • Contact the editor
Forget plastics, the real action these days is arranging going-out-of-business sales.
More From Mark Lacter:
Without referencing its recent layoff, the Ventura County Star's editor says the suburban LA paper is now "more streamlined and, in many ways, much more efficient."
We stripped the Indians of their ponies, and now we're doing it to ourselves.
When the sun looks like that, there's a big fire somewhere regardless of whether we see or smell smoke.
After 22 years of loyalty, Baylor is unceremoniously shown the door.
Lee Abrams, Tribune Company's chief innovation officer, doesn’t seem too impressed with the Los Angeles Times. That’s the feeling I got when he appeared at the Los Angeles Press Club.
Seven or fifteen minutes from now I can definitively say I didn't hear the sound of sirens.
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