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Stocks open lower: Investors are trying to make sense of the drop in Microsoft earnings, which still beat expectations. Dow is down 25 points in early trading.
About the pay cuts: NYT columnist Joe Nocera points out that it's the shareholders, not some Washington pay czar, who must ultimately ratchet down executive compensation.
[Nell Minow, the co-founder of the Corporate Library and a fierce proponent of executive compensation reform,] believes that shareholders need the ability to vote directors off the board if they feel they are doing a bad job -- on executive pay or anything else. Right now, the deck is so stacked that is nearly impossible, especially since many companies don't allow simple, majority votes to elect (or reject) directors. But the most straightforward way to shrink the oversize pay of Wall Street executives -- and, more generally, curb the excesses of executive pay -- would be to make directors more accountable to the company's shareholders.
New review by Calpers: This time, California's giant pension fund is looking at its ties with private equity firm Apollo Management. It's one of several reviews involving real estate and hedge funds as well as private equity. (LAT)
City National takes hit: The L.A.-based bank earned $8 million in the third quarter, about half the amount from the like period a year earlier. Losses on real estate lending are being blamed. (LAT)
Imperial Capital seeks capital: The boutique investment banking firm in Century City wants to go public, looking to raise as much as $150 million. The deal would allow management to cash out a portion of its ownership stake. (LAT)
Relativity lands $300 million: Who says Hollywood can't get financing? Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media has a $300 million credit facility from Comerica Bank and Union Bank. The funds will probably be used for acquisitions. (The Wrap)
Fortune cuts frequency: New schedule has the biz magazine coming out 18 times a year, down from 25. Some months will have two issues and others just one. Staff cuts also expected. (WSJ)
Layoff update: Conde Nast continued its cost-cutting sweep, this time at Vanity Fair and GQ. Total number of layoffs at the publishing giant now totals more than 450. Meanwhile, has anyone checked out the wafer-thin issue of Gourmet for November? It's the last issue of the magazine and normally one of the thickest. Sad. (NY Post)
Remember Jim O'Shea?: The short-term LAT editor has a new gig: He's editor of a nonprofit news organization that will provide pages of local news for a Chicago edition of the NYT. Also involved in the new venture are former Chicago Tribune executives James Warren, and Ann Marie Lipinski. (NYT)
Gas prices flat: They're running an average of about $3 a gallon in the L.A. area, according to the Auto Club.
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.