Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Sick earnings weigh stocks: Yahoo, Merck, Boeing, United, Wachovia - take your pick. Wachovia, which is being acquired by Wells Fargo, reported a $24 billion loss. Even Apple, which beat expectations in its quarter, is worried about the holiday season.
Oil below $70: OPEC has been making noises about lowering production, but traders aren't taking the bait. "People are just scared that the economy is going down the tube," said Tony Nunan, assistant manager of risk management at Mitsubishi in Tokyo. (CNBC/Reuters)
Redstones divorce: Or as the NY Post puts it: "SUMNER SQUASH: NUPS KAPUT." The L.A. billionaire, who is 85, cited "irreconcilable differences" in his split from Paula Fortunato, who is 46. The divorce filing came as he was selling off shares of Viacom and CBS in order to cover a loan covenant at National Amusements. She will get $5 million under a prenup agreement.
Boeing loses satellite case: An L.A. jury awarded at least $371 million in damages to a company run by billionaire Craig McCaw. ICO Global Communications accused Boeing of thwarting its plans to build a satellite that could beam TV programming and other services to mobile-device users. Boeing plans to appeal. From the LAT:
The court battle dates to the 1990s, when ICO contracted with El Segundo-based Hughes Electronics Corp. to build and launch a dozen satellites to support a global service for beaming such services as roadside assistance and navigation information to mobile-device users. Only two of the satellites were ever completed, and one of those was destroyed when the rocket carrying it into space exploded. The second made it into orbit but is essentially useless on its own. The other 10 sit in a local warehouse in various stages of near-completion. Boeing inherited the problem when it bought Hughes' satellite business in 2000.
Feds need more offices: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. wants 200,000 square feet of temporary space and plans to sign a lease in OC. "Three to five years is what we're looking at," FDIC spokesman David Barr told the LAT.
A contingent of FDIC officials has been occupying the Pasadena headquarters of IndyMac Bank, a giant mortgage lender that failed in July. Barr said the FDIC wanted its new office to be reasonably close to IndyMac. The first 100 or so employees could be in the new office by December. If no buyer emerges for all of IndyMac, the FDIC could wind up with billions of dollars in high-risk IndyMac mortgages -- loans that the agency, as the current operator of IndyMac, has been trying to modify en masse to stem foreclosures.
California's A-plus credit: That's still nothing to write home about, but at least Standard & Poor's didn't lower its rating. After California easily raised $5 billion in short-term notes, S&P declared that "the state will manage through the current fiscal stress." (Money & Co.)
Unions respond to Dean Singleton: They're not wild about his idea to consolidate copy desk functions for all MediaNews papers - including the Daily News, Daily Breeze, etc. - and perhaps outsource everything overseas. The move, warns guilds from Northern and Southern California, threatens hundreds of jobs - as well as quality and credibility. Here's the letter.
DOJ sides with truckers: In a filing with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Justice Department says that the ports of L.A. and Long Beach are trying to regulate the trucking business by requiring freight haulers to obtain special contracts in order to work. The American Trucking Association has been trying to derail the $1.6 billion Clean Trucks Program that the two ports launched on Oct. 1. (Daily Breeze)
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.