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Stocks slip: More concerns about a jobless recovery, despite fairly decent earnings news. Dow is down about 25 points in early trading.
Accessing Calpers money: You're a big investment firm looking for pension fund money. You need a middleman to open doors. So you go to people like Alfred J.R. Villalobos, who has earned about $53 million in fees over the last seven years. From the LAT:
What exactly does Villalobos do for his paycheck? That question is part of an internal investigation CalPERS announced Oct. 14 and comes amid a broader investigation by state and federal authorities into the activities of intermediaries such as Villalobos in winning pension fund business.
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Using knowledge gained from his years as a state political appointee and CalPERS board member, Villalobos helps clients prepare their sales pitches and then lobbies pension investment staffers and board members to help close the deals. "It obviously helped him that he knew the players," said J.J. Jelincic, a career CalPERS investment officer.
No new jobs: A survey of L.A. businesses shows that 33 percent expect to lay off workers next year, up from 14 percent when the survey asked about the year ahead in 2008. L.A. County unemployment in September was already nearing 13 percent. (Daily News)
Good numbers from Viacom: The parent of Paramount Pictures posted a 15 percent jump in third-quarter profit, helped by "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." Ad revenues and DVD sales fell. (AP)
Best Buy's new movie offer: The retail giant and partner CinemaNow are announcing a downloading service. Best Buy will pre-load on electronics from retailers and CinemaNow is handling all of the back-end technology. From the LAT:
Legal movie downloads have been available in some form for about a decade. However the business has been impeded by limitations on availability, consumers' ability to play video on different devices, and high pricing that have made DVDs and illegal downloads more attractive. The market has recently become very competitive, however, as online movie services from Amazon.com and Netflix are competing against Apple's iTunes Store.
Lawry's settles suit: The steakhouse chain will shell out more than $1 million to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit alleging that it hired only women as servers. The company said it remedied its policy in 2004. From the LAT:
Lawry's policy of hiring women as servers dates to 1938, and the company has dressed the women in 1930s- and '40s-style fashions ever since. Women still dress in such costumes. The male waiters wear "complementary" clothing, but it does not reflect the fashions of the period, Cope said.
Night flights continue in Burbank: The FAA turned down an effort to impose a curfew at Bob Hope Airport, saying that it would unreasonably burden air traffic and commerce. The airport authority can still challenge the ruling in court. (Burbank Leader)
Little change in gas prices: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $3.029, up about a penny from last week, according to the government's weekly survey.
Lacter on radio: This morning's business chat with KPCC's Suzanne Whatley (subbing for Steve Julian) looks at the bigger-than-expected TV ratings from DVR use and the earnings potential from live concerts on You Tube. Also on kpcc.org and on podcast.
Mark Lacter created the LA Biz Observed blog in 2006. He posted
until the day before his death on Nov. 13, 2013.