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As usual, there's some good news for most of the networks. CBS continues to bring in the most viewers, ABC is relying on a few popular shows to attract that prized 18-49 demographic, and NBC is showing signs of life. Only Fox is struggling by almost any measure. But there's a growing belief that sweeps don't mean as much as they used to because L.A. and other major markets use people meters to keep tabs...
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.
November 2006
In case you've been just getting bits and pieces on the ongoing flap about Wal-Mart's allegiance to gay workers - and the backlash from Christian conservatives - Fortune's Marc Gunther weaves together the tale. Wal-Mart's support of gay groups had led Rev. Donald Wildmon to call for a boycott of Wal-Mart over the Thanksgiving weekend. Then, the boycott and related protests were called off after the company said it would "not make corporate contributions to...
C'mon admit it. You're starting to wonder what that holiday envelope with contain. Bonuses are a very big deal in the financial world because in a good year they can be several times that of your base salary - well into the six figures and even beyond. Of course, bonuses can also mean turkeys and movie coupons. Unlike the holiday party, which is generally silly and meaningless, the holiday bonus provides a pretty good yardstick...
What on earth would anyone do with a $1.4 million Bugatti Veyron, with a 1001-horsepower engine and a top speed of 250 miles per hour? Er, don't answer that question. The Bugatti is on display at this week's L.A. Auto Show, but the WSJ reports that the general public isn't really welcome. A glass fence keeps onlookers from getting close. A lot of the people who could potentially buy this car live near Los Angeles,"...
The Bev Hills billionaire is selling another 14 million GM shares for $28.75 each, or a little over $400 million. That reduces Kerkorian's holdings to 28 million shares, or 4.95 percent - about half what it was when GM turned down his suggestion that the automaker team up with Nissan and Renaut. He's still the fifth largest GM shareholder. "It sure looks like an exit strategy to me because he's selling a considerable amount of...
Retail sluggishness: Yes, there was plenty of action at the malls last weekend, but apparently it wasn't enough to offset all those empty stores during the first half of November. The result: 54 percent of the retailers surveyed by Thomson Financial reported that November same-store sales had fallen short of expectations. Wal-Mart, Costco and Penney were in that group (more on Wal-Mart in the next item). Federated Department Stores, which owns the Macy's colossus, was...
Or so reports the WSJ's Sarah Ellison. Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the 81-year-old ex-chairman of American International Group Inc., obviously has this itch about newspapers. He made news today on reports that he was buying up shares of the New York Times Co. in anticipation of a possible bid. The stock jumped 7 percent on the news. But Greenberg only has 100,000 shares (out of 143 million shares outstanding) and after the bell a spokesman said...
Catching up on today's news that Jim Cramer, that crazy guy who hosts "Mad Money," on CNBC, is giving up his syndicated radio program, "Real Money," which is heard locally on KNX. Final show is Friday. Cramer wants to focus more TheStreet.com Inc.'s video and multimedia efforts (though some reports say Cramer will be working on CNBC's new Web site)....
Boy, did they ever reject it - 99 percent of the voting Writers Guild employees working for CBS in L.A., N.Y., Chicago and Washington. The offer was for a 12 percent wage increase over the next 45 months for TV and network radio employees and 8 percent for the folks in local radio. One obvious snag, as reported by THR: The 500 WGA members have been without a CBS contract since the last one expired...
Lots and lots of stuff, courtesy of a WSJ.com notebook that includes reports from the WSJ, Marketwatch, Dow Jones and AP (hope the locals keep up the pace). Among the highlights: -Italian super luxury carmaker Lamborghini shows off the Murcielago Roadster LP640, which has a more powerful 12-cylinder engine that goes from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in 3.4 seconds. CEO Stephan Winkelman says the number of people who can afford such luxury is...
Beware of too many construction cranes, especially in a neighborhood that includes Skid Row. The Business Journal is reporting this week that developer Sonny Astani is shelving plans for a 30-story condominium tower because the market is so lousy. Actually, Astani calls it "a horrible investment." He's also thinking about killing another condo tower (a third is under construction). I believe the story is only available by subscription, which means not very many folks have...
Let's start with the assumption that none of us outsiders knows what's really going on with the Tribune auction and that all the speculation you've been reading about is just that. NEVERTHELESS... We do seem to be hearing more chatter about Tribune deciding to sell off just a few assets - not the LAT - and otherwise remaining in one piece as a public company. Newspaper analyst John Morton told the LAT: "I think Tribune...
Looks like many of the big retailers are not letting go of those sale prices from the Thanksgiving weekend. The WSJ's HolidaySales blog notes that Kohl's, Sears and Aeropostale have kept their 50 percent off sales this week. Macy's is advertising 10-50 percent off, while J.C. Penney slashed prices by up to 60 percent on outerwear and home furnishings. Toys R Us is offering $10 off a Barbie-store order of $50 or more. Normally, retailers...
Auto show opens: The 10-day extravaganza at the Los Angeles Convention Center is a month earlier this year (it was conflicting too much with the more prominent Detroit Auto Show) and will feature 47 manufacturers and 21 world debuts, including seven concept cars. GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner is expected to make a big splash by talking about hybrid engines, batteries and other advanced fuel-saving technologies. GM will be introducing a battery-powered car at...
FranklinAvenue follows up on the LAT's piece about KKGO-AM going country by pointing out that the Inland Empire's country station, KFRG 95.1 ("K-Frog"), has been adding a bunch of listeners since KZLA changed formats. This could be a small wrinkle for KKGO owner Saul Levine because, after all, wouldn't you rather listen to FM than AM? K-Frog's signal is apparently pretty strong into Los Angeles - and in the poetic justice department, its ratings have...
Remember when that wild and crazy Robert Iger suggested last year that it might make sense to release a film at the moviehouse and on DVD simultaneously? Well, with theater attendance up almost 4 percent from a year ago, you're not hearing such talk coming out of Disney or anywhere else (even though it's an idea whose time will eventually come). What you have been hearing are more variations on the movie downloading theme -...
Hurry up and wait. Not surprisingly, the Chicago-based parent of the LAT is postponing a decision on how it plans to sell itself - in whole or in parts - and who the lucky so-and-sos will turn out to be. The new target is the first quarter of 2007. Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons said in a statement that the process "has generated strong interest from a number of parties." The final decision was supposed to...
Well, no, but fashion houses Oscar de la Renta, Monique Lhuillier and Chloe will be opening new boutiques on Melrose Place next spring. New York–based Carolina Herrera held a red-carpet opening for its new boutique on Nov. 13, and Karl Lagerfeld, Theory and Diesel are rumored to be opening there, according to the California Apparel News. One reason for all the interest: Many Melrose Place shoppers are wealthy women who regularly get their hair styled...
No worry about Barry Diller being afraid of speaking up - even if it means calling corporate governance activists “birdbrains.” Diller, CEO of IAC/Interactive Corp., was named the nation's highest-paid chief executive in two recent studies - as well as being dinged in relation to IAC's performance. During the Reuters Media Summit, he took special aim at the NYT, which he says has a "loony" view of executive compensation (the paper has reported extensively on...
Well, it takes all kinds in the business world, which is too bad for IHOP Corp. The Glendale-based pancake chain is getting a torrent of bad press today because its retaurant in Quincy, Mass. established a truly idiotic policy that required patrons to turn over their driver's licenses before ordering. The policy was supposed to discourage diners from leaving without paying ther bill - and had been put in place without corporate approval. Now the...
Stock watch: It's a good day to keep an eye on the market. The big question is whether yesterday's 160-point loss was just a pause for profit-taking or something more serious. This morning, stocks opened down a bit and now they're up a bit - perhaps due to a report showing that U.S. sales for existing homes rose slightly in October, the first increase since February. L.A. sales were still down a lot in October....
Whenever there's blood in the water, you can be certain that advertisers will be looking for a discount off the rate card. The Business Journal reports that Macy's and several unnamed local auto dealers say they will be expecting better deals next year, based on the paper's circulation drop (15 percent since the last ad rates were set). The Times has yet to publish its rate card for next year. From the Business Journal: When...
Most everything went down today - in some cases by a lot. The Dow fell almost 160 points while the S&P was down 19, or 1.36 percent. The percentage is significant because, as reported by the WSJ's David Gaffen, it's the first time in 95 trading days that the S&P fell more than 1 percent. Much of the attention focused on Wal-Mart reporting terrible sales numbers for November, but other culprits were far and wide....
Barbra Streisand's 20 concerts, her first live performances in six years, grossed $92.5 million and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour - including L.A. (Staples Center). In the other two arenas, Madison Square Garden in New York and the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, she already holds the building record. Tour producer Michael Cohl isn't ruling out more dates next year. "We're talking about it,"...
DreamWorks Animation looks like an obvious acquisition target, according to Merrill Lynch's Jessica Reif Cohen, who spoke to the Reuters Media Summit in New York this morning. Cohen expects the media sector to be dominated by just a handful of companies, which means more dealmaking for the smaller fry like Glendale-based DreamWorks and El Segundo-based DirecTV. (A DreamWorks acquisition would make sense for lots of reasons - not the least of which is the fact...
Burkle's latest plans: The L.A.-based billionaire wants to start a "corporate governance fund" in which shareholders force managements to clean up their acts. Among the investors will be unions, which have been closely aligned to Burkle (especially the Food and Commercial Workers International). He tells Forbes: "Union leaders all know the problems and weaknesses of companies. We know how to help solve those problems. There is value to that." The lengthy profile covers familiar ground,...
Dull old sweaters were no match for flat screen TVs and other electronic items over the weekend. Blogging in the WSJ's holiday shopping site, Stephanie Kang and Amy Marrick found a number of bargains at the Citadel Outlet in City of Commerce, including 50 percent off Max Studio sweaters and a buy one, get one free offer at KB Toys. But stores are low on fresh ideas, too. At Old Navy, the fleece pullovers on...
So exactly how many people braved the malls today? No one has very good numbers at this point, but ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which collects data from 40,000 cameras in enclosed malls and strip centers, said the numbers were higher than expected. ShopperTrak was looking for a 2.5 percent increase from a year ago, and by late morning traffic had surpassed that by at least a few tenths of a percentage point. "That's a pretty strong...
Flat-screen TVs were at the center of the deep discounting early this morning - for good reason. They're much cheaper to make than they were just a couple of years ago and they're obviously in huge demand (lots of folks making the transition from analog to digital and HDTV). Retailers still claim that profit margins are acceptable, but TV prices are tumbling so much so fast that analysts are beginning to have their doubts. That's...
Too soon even for the exit polls, but all signs point to a very strong day-after-Thanksgiving shopping day (aka Black Friday, an industry term that has suddenly entered everyone's lexicon because it's so much shorter and sexier than day-after-Thanksgiving shopping). By now, we all know that shoppers clutching a bunch of bags early in the day is usually a good sign. That's because they're buying more than the deep-discount loss leaders being sold at 5...
Very light posting over the next few days. Hope everyone has a terrific Thanksgiving weekend....
THQ, the Agoura Hills-based videogame maker, and J2 Global, the L.A.-based fax/voicemail developer, announced today that they have received notices from Nasdaq about being subject to a possible delisting. Both are trying to sort out their stock option grants and as a result have had to delay filing their earnings reports. This does not mean they're being kicked out of the Nasdaq exchange - just that the companies are not in compliance and must go...
If you're a struggling screenwriter you might not want to read this post, but Nikki Finke reports that Akiva Goldsman is getting $4 million for the Da Vinci Code sequel, which is being made by Sony Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. And that's without a producer credit. Finke hears that this is an all-time high for a screenwriter. "The Da Vinci Code" generated $755 million at the box office. From her Deadline Hollywood Daily: This is...
Ever wonder what it must be like to sell almost a half-billion dollars worth of stock with a snap of your fingers? Bev Hills billionaire Kirk Kerkorian doesn't have to wonder - he just unloaded 14 million GM shares worth $462 million while also announcing plans to buy 15 million shares of MGM Mirage at $55 each. The net effect is that GM shares have been sliding all week - 3.4 percent on Monday, 4.5...
Much has been made of the crooner's 1994 performance on MTV - the concert that really got his career rocking again. And now, you can hear him on Dec. 15 as part of Yahoo!'s series of Internet concerts. Bennett and his 53-year-old son Danny have been shrewdly packaging old standards for a new media crowd (while not forgetting his older constituency). BW's Ron Grover says it's all about finding an audience and the movie studios...
Fans of the legendary sushi eatery on La Cienega will be happy to know that owner Nobu Matsuhisa has reversed his earlier plans to shut the place down. Matsuhisa had intended to focus on his new restaurant, tentatively called Nobu Los Angeles, which will be on the site of the soon-to-be-closed L'Orangerie. A Matsuhisa spokeswoman told the LAT that loyal regulars had begged the owners to keep it open. Robert De Niro is Matsuhisa's partner....
Who gets O.J. tape?: The family of Ron Goldman has asked News Corp. to turn over the rights to the material - and News Corp. is considering it. Before the book and interview had been pulled, the company had offered its profit from the TV and book deals to the victims’ families, although Denise Brown, the sister of Nicole Brown Simpson, called that "hush money." The fear, of course, is that the book will end...
Brian White at Blogging Stocks offers a sneak peak on toys and games that will be priced for under $20 this Friday (and probably on Saturday as well). WAL-MART Candyland Dora the Explorer Edition - $9 Bratz sleepover doll - $10 Disney princess director's chair - $10 Playstation 2 three-game pack assortment - $10 Cabbage Patch Kids Snuggle Beans assortment - $10 Hot Wheels 20-car assortment - $10 TARGET Bratz doll - $10 Cabbage Patch...
The Internet giant closed above $500 a share for the first time - $509.70 to be exact. If you don't own any Google stock, here's what you're missing, courtesy of the WSJ's Marketbeat: -Since its IPO of $85 on Aug. 19, 2004, Google shares are up roughly 500 percent. -Google is up about 408 percent from the closing price of $100.34 on the first day of trading. -In a little over two years, Google has...
A new leasing policy at LAX means that airlines will have to pay far more to operate at the airport and according to a Daily Breeze story, passengers will feel the difference. Airport commissioners voted 5-0 to revise the leasing policy, but the airlines are likely to take their case to the courts. The commissioners aren't imposing the higher rates just yet, as they allow the airport and the airlines time to settle their differences...
The Graphics Communications International Union, which is a unit of the Teamsters, filed a petition on Monday with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to represent pressroom employees at the LAT. Similar efforts have been unsuccessful in the past. "While we are disappoointed we are not surprised," Mark Kurtich, senior vice president of operations, wrote in a memo to presroom employees - and obtained by LABO. The petition must be accompanied by evidence demonstrating that...
O.J. fallout: Still some question on whether Simpson will be paid in full for the book and TV interview that were cancelled yesterday by News Corp. Simpson's lawyer told the WSJ that "all of his contractural obligations have been fulfilled," but book contracts typically have provisions about potential legal liabilities that would arise from publication. Apparently, there was a lot of internal debate within News Corp. about the project. And outside News Corp., most everybody,...
There was no explanation (other than the obvious) on why the former KB Home Chairman and CEO resigned last week as a director of Rosemead-based Edison International and Honeywell International (those are the only two corporate boards he's been on.) Edison's SEC filing said the resignation “did not involve any disagreement on any matter relating to Edison International's operations, policies or practices.” Honeywell's filing said pretty much the same thing. This story might not go...
This one could get nasty. The El Segundo-based toymaker maintains that Bratz dolls were originally created by a designer who had been working for Mattel at the time. He later went to work for Van Nuys-based MGA Entertainment prior to the launch of Bratz. The dispute has been going on a while, but in documents filed today in U.S. District Court, Mattel claims to have obtained the original drawings. The Bratz dolls wound up taking...
Economists said it was by nearly 2-to-1 in the latest WSJ.com economic forecasting survey. But they also expect that the average selling price of a house will fall next year. "We're nearing the end of the slowdown for most markets," said Ethan S. Harris at Lehman Brothers. Prices still have some ways to fall before they'll stabilize, but there are signs that most drastic parts of the downturn – marked by a sharp pullback in...
Now that the preliminary bidders have gotten a look at the company's books, the next step happens in a week or so when they decide whether to stay in the game or bail. Chicago Tribune story notes that management has spent November making presentations to the interested parties: a group of private equity firms, Broad and Burkle and Gannett Co. "We think there will be offers [for the whole company]," one source told the paper....
Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch called it an "ill-considered project." Here's what he said in a statement: "We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown-Simpson." The interview with Simpson was scheduled to air Nov. 27 and Nov. 29, while the book was scheduled to go on sale Nov. 30. It's pretty rare when a media giant cuts the cord on a project so close to publication/airing, but...
Will KB pay Karatz?: The LAT reports that ex-CEO Bruce Karatz is entitled to $175 million in severance pay, pension benefits and stock options because he officially "retired" - even though everyone knows he was forced out because of the stock options backdating scandal. Karatz may actually do better by leaving than staying. L.A.-based KB Home is probably stuck (there was an employment agreement in place), but Mark Fabiani, an attorney representing the KB Home...
NBC Universal's chairman and CEO allows NYT reporters Bill Carter and Richard Siklos to follow him around during a recent visit to L.A. and of course he was asked about when he was planning to step down. Wright didn't want to talk about it, other than to say that the time will come but that it isn't now. Nor does it seem imminent. "Listen, I stay here because I enjoy it," he told the paper....
Several interesting morsals, courtesy of the WSJ, about where Hollywood's movers and shakers like to sit at the famous Beverly Hills watering hole. For those who haven't been there, two side walls of the room are configured with Pullman-style booths, where diners face each other and ambient noise is kept to a minimum. Of these tables, favorites include #103 (Kirk Kerkorian, Ed Hookstratten) and #104 (Brad Grey, Brian Grazer). The super-power area are those four...
The Business Journal comes out with its list of the 100 fastest growing companies in L.A. County and surrounding areas. Of the 100, 56 were repeaters and 27 have made the list for three consecutive years. That's quite a feat since fast growing companies tend to slow down after a year or two or are acquired. The list is part of a special report that's online but only available to subscribers. Many of these companies...
There's at least some laudable news concerning the "If I Did It" idiocy - the decision by Borders and Walden Book Inc. to donate the net proceeds from the sale of the Simpson book to a non-profit organization that benefits victims of domestic violence (the company hasn't decided which organization will get the blood money). Several independent bookstores, including Vroman's in Pasadena, are doing the same thing. It's probably the most sensible middle ground for...
That's right, plunges - October joblessness was 4.3 percent, down from 4.8 percent in September and 5 percent from a year earlier. It's certainly the lowest unemployment rate I can ever remember for L.A. County and again reflects an economy that's in very good shape (so much for the fears about a real estate recession). L.A. County added 17,400 jobs for the month, much of the growth coming from government (education jobs were a big...
The big music company, a unit of Vivendi SA, alleges that the News Corp.-owned social networking site violated copyright law by allowing its users to post millions of Universal songs and videos without permission. You might remember that MySpace and Universal had been negotiating towards a deal that would have News Corp. pay a licensing fee for Universal content. But according to the WSJ, Universal wanted News Corp. to pay restitution for content that previously...
I'll be out of pocket the next couple of days. Be back late Friday....
If you're confused about the specifics of the stock options scandal, Fortune's Justin Rose provides some good background on how all this got started. It goes back to 1992 when the Securities and Exchange Commission mandated that companies list in their proxy statements the exact dates that they gave stock options to top executives. The dates had been disclosed before but only in filings that no one ever looked at. To corporate America, the new...
But the numbers are low - just 40 or so jobs throughout the news division. NYT reports tonight that the deepest cuts will be felt at "Dateline," which is losing 20 people. "Today" is losing two staff members. All told, 300 jobs are being cut out of a staff of 6,000. The cuts within the news division are part of a broader effort by NBC Universal to save as much as $750 million....
That's as in the day after Thanksgiving, when many retailers will be opening their doors in the middle of the night and offer crazy deals for those crazy enough to be waiting outside a store at three in the morning. The early openings, along with online flyers and other come-ons, are becoming an important part of the retailer's arsenal during the all-important holiday shopping season. As BW's Pallavi Gogoi reports, shoppers who start out early...
The Malibu-based writer/actor/economist is also honorary chairman of National Retirement Planning Week and he says that the U.S. has a real crisis on its hands, with 40 percent of pre-retiree baby boomers having little or no savings. "There's nothing funny about retiring without enough money," he tells Dan Primack, editor of PE Week Wire. "There's nothing funny about being old and poor, and our goal is to keep as many people happy and comfortable in...
They were lined up outside the Westwood Borders this morning - and by the looks of it, many had been camped out for hours. Could these be the fans of singer Josh Groban, who will sign copies of his new "Awake" CD at the store tonight? The Borders Web site says wristbands will be given to the first 500 fans (they'll have to buy a CD of course). Reminds me of the ruckus for Howard...
October sales of existing homes either fell 21.6 percent from a year earlier or 11 percent, depending on which data service you're using. The difference is a big deal because the lower number, reported by the Business Journal, would indicate a significant stemming of the summer-long plunge in sales, while the higher number, reported by the LAT, would indicate just a slight improvement. All that's at stake here is the future course of the Socal...
Turns out that there are lines that Gawker Media will not cross, such as daring one of its subjects to file a lawsuit. Gawker has fired Nick Douglas, editor of the Silicon Valley-based ValleyWag. Apparently, Douglas had been getting out of control - even by Gawker standards - and might have sealed his fate when he said in an interview that "we're really trying to get News Corp. to sue us." Gawker's Lockhart Steele said...
Will Chandlers make bid?: With a growing list of possible suitors for Tribune Co., why not the Chandlers? That's the talk being tossed around by at least one family member, who told the LAT that if there is money to be made, they might as well be the ones making it. Hard to tell how widespread such interest might be (some family members want to just sell and be done with it). Keep in mind...
That was September's average daily room rate in Beverly Hills, a 14 percent increase from a year ago. Overall, L.A. County's ADR was up 6 percent, to $142.64. Occupancy fell slightly to 77.2 percent, but is still very healthy (anything over 70 percent is generally considered good). A number of L.A.-area locations were well into the 80s. Numbers are from PKF Consulting, courtesy of the L.A. Economic Development Corp....
The City of Commerce retailer delayed filing quarterly results because of an internal investigation into its stock option practices (first quarter results have also been delayed). Apparently, there were errors amounting to $2.2 million in unrecorded compensation over the last six years. "Management believes that the stock option errors were due to misunderstandings of how to establish the measurement date for accounting purposes and did not involve any intentional wrongdoing," the company said. 99 Cents...
L.A. still has a garment industry, but it's more of an adjunct to the major manufacturing that happens in China and elsewhere around the world. Case in point is Santa Fe Finishing, which fixes up the defective goods that arrive in the United States. Without the fix-ups, most of the merchandise would have to be junked. Santa Fe is the handiwork of Barry Forman, who made ladies' polyester pantsuits in the 1970s before selling the...
Just before the closing bell, KB Home was up more than 2 percent. Yes, that's the same KB Home whose CEO Bruce Karatz "retired" after the company's independent investigation found that Karatz's stock option grants had been improperly backdated. Wall Street is looking at the "retirement" as lifting the cloud that has been hanging over the company for months. It also tells federal investigators that KB has responded to the nasty business instead of just...
Somehow, you could see this coming - a Snoop Dogg line of pet products, including toys, apparel and accessories. Malibu-based Jakks Pacific is marketing the line, which will be available for pre-order on Nov. 21 - the release date of the new Snoop Dogg CD. In a press release, Snoop Dogg says this about his new pet products line "Go get some quick, dogg-gone-it! 'Cuz Snoop Dogg said so. Bow Wow!" The Snoop Dogg line...
Stock update: In case you're wondering, Tribune is up 1.16 percent in early trading, to $32.40. Keep watching the numbers because they will provide some clues on how interested those bidders really are. Also, KB Home is down this morning, but not by a lot - 0.43 percent, to $43.63. Shareholders could be looking for closure. Bruckheimer power: Disney's cost-cutting dictums in one corner, Jerry Bruckheimer's splashy big-budget releases in the other. Which side do...
Will the future of the Tribune Co. be sorted out in just a few weeks? With every new bidder or potential bidder entering the auction process, it's hard to believe the board will be in a position to vote on anything by the end of the year (that had been the plan). Suddenly, Tribune is getting interest from several new parties, ranging from Gannett Co. (notorious tire kickers) to former AIG Chairman Hank Greenberg, of...
Not likely. That internal investigation into backdated stock options by the L.A.-based homebuilder must have turned up some nasty stuff for long-time Chairman and CEO Bruce Karatz to be forced out. KB wouldn't provide details, other than that Karatz selected the dates for the backdated options. (Option grants give the holder the right to buy stock at a set price within a certain time period, typically based on the stock price when the option was...
Let's just pretend you're back in college and trying to get an internship at NBC. You enter this crazy contest in which you're asked to create a video clip that lays out why you're the best person for the job. What would you say? Check out the semi-fiinalists for NBC and several other big companies - part of something called "the ultmate internship contest" that is being sponsored by Columbia Pictures. (My pick is Jennifer...
Its Valencia theme park (aka Six Flags Magic Mountain) is one of the properties up for sale and Bloomberg News reports that the bids may fall short of what investors were looking for. You might recall that Dan Snyder, who owns the Washington Redskins, took over Six Flags with plans to cut the debt load and reverse a drop in the stock price. That might require $800 million, but the bids are said to be...
Not by much - the median price of an existing home in Los Angeles County was $545,000, according to HomeData Corp., which prepares the data for the Business Journal. That's down from $550,000 over each of the previous three months and up 5 percent from October 2005. Is this the start of a deep and prolonged price slide? Probably not. The prevailing view is that L.A. won't see huge price declines. The more likely scenario...
Consider the source and all that, but the NY Post's Page Six reports that Sitrick & Co. was hired and fired by Ryan Phillippe (yeah, the guy who is splitting up with Reese Witherspoon) in the space of a few hours. Sitrick was hired by Phillippe's regular PR outfit, Baker, Winokur & Ryder (which also represents Witherspoon), but a BWR spokesman said the firm decided that it wouldn't need outside help. Of course, this is...
Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig's speech at USC last night drew a high-octane crowd of owners and team executives. The McCourts were there (Jaimie made it for the reception and Frank came later), Angels owner Arte Moreno, A's owner Lew Wolff, Red Sox owner Tom Werner and Fox Sports honchos David Hill and Ed Goren. Selig, who appeared as part of the Sports Business Institute's commissioners' series, was still beaming from the agreement last month with...
Word floating around that LAT editors got wind of the WSJ's plans for a page one story on the Times-Tribune slugfest and raced to get their own similar story in the paper this morning. Kind of makes sense given the strange placement (biz section news column?). Oh well. Pressure must really be on biz reporter James Rainey and his editors to keep up with the throngs of journos at others pubs looking for a piece...
Times-Tribune war: Did the LAT get wind that the WSJ was planning a major piece on the culture clash between Tribune Co. executives and the Times newsroom? Or did the WSJ get wind that the LAT was planning a major piece detailing those same clashes? Maybe it was just a weird coincidence that both papers came out with more or less the same story on the same day with pretty much the same headlines -...
The December Vanity Fair profile on Eli Broad gets into his not-so-wonderful relationship with David Geffen - and helps explain why their efforts at buying the LAT might be turning personal. E&P lays out some snippets about the piece (not available online). -Broad on a "dustup" with Geffen in 2000 over efforts to bring the Democratic convention to L.A. : “I’ll tell you what happened, I got all the press, that’s what happened. And why...
Funny how earnings conference calls bring out the politician in many an executive. And with it, the illusion of success. So this morning, when Viacom announced its third-quarter financial results, Chairman Sumner Redstone was going on about all the strong numbers - and how the new CEO, Phillipe Dauman (he's the guy who replaced Tom Freston, who was fired) was doing such a terrific job. Philippe is bringing a sense of executional rigor and urgency...
The New York press just loves stories about under-30 Sammy Glick types getting a movie made. The latest variation on this theme is a NY Observer piece about Fortress Entertainment, which is the branchild of Brett Forbes and Patrick Rizzotti, both 29. They're celebrating their first movie "Pride," which will be released by Lions Gate in March. [Rizzotti] and Mr. Forbes, who majored in communications at Loyola Marymount, met on a ski trip to Lake...
Santa Clara appears to be the new site for the SF 49ers, which broke off negotiations with San Francisco city officials concerning a new ballpark at Candlestick Point. A news conference this morning will make it official. And what if the team can't come to terms with Santa Clara? Team owner John York said he would look elsewhere in the Bay Area - and only the Bay Area. "We are a part of the fabric...
J.C. Penney and Kohl's appear to be picking up some former Robinsons-May customers who might not be all that happy about those stores being converted to Macy's. That seems to be the upshot of a $3 million third-quarter net loss by Macy's parent Federated Department Stores. Part of the problem is that Macy's prices are a little higher than they were at Robinsons-May, but the bigger issue is Federated's ability to swallow not only Robinsons-May,...
It's still a story no one can get their arms around. Almost 24 hours after the Broad-Burkle bid for the whole Tribune shebang was first reported, there are still no specifics on price and terms. One of the papers quoted a source as calling the bid "competitive," whatever that means. Of course, this is too juicy a story to let the absence of news stand in anyone's way, so there’s been a ton of space...
Aw, heck, let me throw another log on the fire - namely a Defamer item that cites "current whispers" (whoever they are) as contradicting Ray Richmond's THR blog in which he cites "key industry sources" (whoever they are) as expecting the NBC show to be picked up for the rest of the season. Defamer's "whispers" insist that NBC honchos are desperately trying to get out of creator Aaron Sorkin's contract and shut the show down....
Downtown's transition from condos to rentals is well underway. Nearly 1,500 apartments will enter the downtown market in the second half of 2006, a 36 percent jump from last year, according to Marcus & Millichap and reported by the Downtown News. That 1,500 figure compares with just 240 in the first half of the year. Demand for apartments remains high, which sort of makes sense considering the young, hipster types who are drawn to the...
Shares in the Long Beach-based health care company fell almost 11 percent on Wednesday, to $34.87. It might seem a bit cockeyed, given that Molina just reported an 80 percent increase in third-quarter net income - driven by lower medical costs in Michigan, New Mexico and Washington health plans. But Molina reaffirmed full-year earnings guidance between $1.60 and $1.65 per share. Analysts expect full-year profit of $1.67 per share. There also could have been jitters...
Ah, to be on the outside looking in. Word that Eli Broad and Ron Burkle are jointly submitting a bid to acquire all of Tribune, not just the LAT, is the latest plot twist in this quickly unfolding story. If only we all knew what was really going on. So far, all that's been reported is that an offer has been made through affiliates of Broad's investment company and Burkle's Yucaipa Cos., which is his...
It's risky to directly connect stock prices with national election results, but for what it's worth, shares of both Amgen and Northrop - two local companies that could be impacted by a Democratic-controlled Congress - are off this morning. Northrop is down 1.25 percent, to $65.57. (Another wrinkle in Northrop stock could be the resignation this morning of DOD Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.) Amgen is down 0.68 percent, to $74.70. Besides the political fallout, the Thousand...
Post-election blues: So you thought the markets had gotten past the mid-term elections weeks ago? Apparently, no one expected that the Dems might take over control of the Senate, as well as the House. That creates all kinds of corporate nervousness, even though Bush could always veto. The market is down this morning, in part because of those prospects, but largely because the Senate picture is uncertain. And we all know how much Wall Street...
With the Democrats now in control of the House, Westside Congressman Henry Waxman will likely become chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. And as chairman, Waxman has made it clear that he would aggressively expand oversight of big business - especially drug companies, oil companies and engineering and construction firms doing work in Iraq. For business and industry, running the Government Reform Committee is an extremely powerful position because it means having the authority...
This could be an interesting match. O'Shea is described as a very midwestern guy, "about as un-L.A. person as I can imagine," according to a former colleague. But he might some commonality among the L.A. editors who are trying to find new readers. O'Shea has been faced with similar challenges in Chicago. At a newspaper seminar in Tokyo last year, he talked about starting up RedEye, the Tribune's freebie tab that's aimed at young'uns. Here's...
LAT publisher David Hiller announces departure of Baquet: Folks, We have published a story on the website that Dean Baquet is leaving and will be replaced by Jim O'Shea, currently managing editor of the Chicago Tribune. We did not plan to communicate in this way, but the story was breaking. When I came here four weeks ago, Dean Baquet and I agreed that we would work to get to know each other, for me to...
Well, he signed off on shuttering the storied City News wire service last December, part of a 27-person reduction at the paper. Not to be confused with Socal's City News Service, the Chicago wire had been around for 115 years and was a training ground for the likes of Mike Royko, Seymour Hersh and many others. Its famous motto: "If your mother says she loves you, check it out." At the time of closing, O'Shea...
Sure, there's been some action on TradeSports.com and the Iowa Electronic Markets on who will win tonight, but it's nothing like 1916, when the NY markets tallied $158 million (in 2000 dollars) in election wagers. Eventually, the NYSE and other markets barred members from engaging in election gambling. From the WSJ's Marketbeat: "The New York betting odds received substantial media coverage in the era before scientific polls," wrote Paul Rhode and Koleman Strumpf, economics professors...
Why should Disney just license its characters to videogame developers when it could make the games itself and not have to share the profits? That seems to be the idea behind its plans for a videogame studio that will make titles for Nintendo Co. This can't be great news for the big videogame publishers - especially Agoura Hills-based THQ, which has the game rights to the next four films by Pixar. Disney, of course, now...
Wall Street anticipation: Expect a pretty low-key session as traders await the results of the election. A Democratic takeover of the House is widely expected - and with it, the prospect of legislative gridlock for the next two years. The betting is that the Senate will remain in GOP hands. In some ways, the markets like gridlock because it minimizes the possibility of more federal regulations. Sitcom slump: NBC's decision to run cheapo game shows...
Snaring a ticket over the weekend to see "Borat" took some doing. When I showed up at the AMC in Century City at around 3 yesterday afternoon, the next three shows were already sold out. Defamer carries this account of seat-saving for none other than Jeffrey Katzenberg: So, last night I attended a sold-out showing of "Borat" at the AMC Century City theater at 7:25. We got there very early to find seats, which were...
With the ongoing stock options scandal, this has been the quarter of the revenue release, with companies delaying earnings pending investigations into how they divvied out stock option grants. Such is the case with Santa Monica-based Activision, which reported a 15 percent decline in second-quarter revenue, to $188.2 million. Still, that was higher than the $130 million the company had forecast in August. Aside from the options mess, Activision, like other game publishers, must wait...
George Joseph is 84, after all, so it's not that big a shock. But the announcement was buried in the middle of a third-quarter earnings report, with no explanation. Joseph, who stays on as chairman, will be succeeded as CEO by Gabriel Tirador, who is president and COO. Only when an analyst brought up the subject on a conference call did Joseph elaborate. "Would you like to see me here at 95 doddering around?" he...
Gasoline conspiracy?: There has to be something behind the huge decline in pump prices, right? The LAT explores the various theories involving price manipulation by the White House, the oil companies - or both - and doesn't find much. Still, lots of Americans are convinced there's something fishy going on. Wachovia blitz: Now that the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has picked up Golden West Financial, parent of World Savings, expect an all-out assault on the California...
Keep an eye on the opening box office this weekend for "Flushed Away," the latest offering from DreamWorks Animation that pits rodents against reptiles in the London sewer system (one critic dubbed it a "mouse out of water story"). The Glendale-based animation company just reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, but Wall Street has had a tough time getting enthused about the stock. Part of that has to do with the studio's schedule of just two releases...
The latest numbers from Tradesports.com, which is a trading and betting exchange, show that the Democrats have a 75 percent chance of winning the House (that's up seven percentage points from a day or two ago). Their chances of winning the Senate are 32 percent, little changed from earlier in the week....
Talk about when worlds collide. Away from his Bev Hills haunts, the CNN talk show host presided over Nasdaq's opening bell this morning as part of a push for the Larry King Cardiac Foundation. A CNBC reporter asked him who tops the list of business types who have never done his show. King didn't hesitate - Kirk Kerkorian. "He's one of the most unusual people I've ever met," he said, noting that Kerkorian wants no...
No, it isn't the opening of "Borat," the well-publicized mockumentary about the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev (aka Sacha Baron Cohen). Turns out that Standard & Poor's upgraded the country's foreign-currency sovereign debt rating to BBB from BBB-, citing "general improvements in Kazakhstan's general government balance sheet." "The upgrade is based on ongoing improvements in Kazakhstan's general government balance sheet," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Luc Marchand. "Kazakhstan's economy is still benefiting from the...
Jobless numbers: Nationwide unemployment in October was 4.4 percent, a five-year low, though the number of new jobs fell well short of expectations, at 92,000. State and local numbers for the month will be out in a couple of weeks. Politicians: spin away. Dems in '08?: That's what NYT columnist Floyd Norris is suggesting, based on the past performance of the consumer price index. Here's the deal: If voters just before midterm elections think the...
Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimmons had it right when he told company employees this morning that they can count on lots of media coverage and speculation about a possible Tribune sale, "fueled largely by individuals or businesses with competing interests and their own motives for talking to the press." In the memo, with a salutation of "Dear Fellow Employee," FitzSimmons adds: "Hard as it may be, try not to be distracted by it." We have consistently...
The radio business continues to struggle, reflected by CBS Corp.'s third-quarter numbers. Revenue for the company's radio operations fell 6 percent, to $508.1 million, and operating income was down 10 percent, to $210.2 million. Not that it came up in the press release, but there's little question that the loss of Howard Stern this past year has taken its toll on CBS stations. It also might explain why two Spanish-language stations sit atop the L.A....
The topic is bound to come up among the Hollywood chatterers speculating on his future roles for United Artists. In his Vanity Fair piece on Sumner Redstone, Bryan Burrough reprises how Cruise's potshots at Brooke Shields and all the nonsense on "Oprah" turned off women moviegoers. It's a questionable premise, but one that Redstone & Co. won't let go, pointing to audience research. Here's Redstone: "When did I decide [to fire him]?'' Redstone asks. "I...
WSJ is reporting that along with "substantial ownership," Cruise and partner Paula Wagner will have control of the company's production slate, from development to green-lighting. Presumably, the new UA would be tied to MGM, which announced the deal this morning. Cruise plans to star in and produce films for UA, though he would be available to other studios. MGM is owned by a group made up of Sony Corp., Comcast, Corp. and two major private-equity...
This one is a Jackson Pollock for about $140 million, according to the NYT. That would be the highest price ever known to have been paid for a painting. The buyer is believed to be Mexican financier David Martinez. Last month, Geffen sold a Jasper Johns and a Willem de Kooning for $143.5 million. None of this may have anything to do with his interest in buying the LAT, but you could be sure the...
Tribune sale: Chicago Tribune sorts through the ramifications of the LAT owner opening up its auction to include bids for individual assets. Tantalizingly, the paper cites "one of the people" who had expressed an interest in the LAT as saying that "investment bankers involved in the process recently contacted him to say that Tribune would 'entertain bids for individual assets.'" The Tribune, as well as the NYT, emphasized that the process was still very fluid...
It's nice to see sanity finally getting a hearing in the case against UnitedHealth's outgoing-CEO William McGuire. The California Public Employees' Retirement System has filed a class action lawsuit against the healthcare company, asking a federal judge to freeze McGuire's retirement payments and any stock option payments he has already received. He's the guy who stands to collect as much as $1.1 billion in stock options, retirement pay and other benefits - much of that...
Who needs a court when "Turbo Tennis" allows you to play the game on a mobile phone? Anyway, that's the idea behind a deal between the L.A.-based Tennis Channel and Bellrock Media. The partnership will have Bellrock working on the mobile side and the Tennis Channel marketing it. The mobile-game market is expected to reach $350 million by the end of the year, from $25 million in 2003. And both companies say there's plenty of...
I'm told that the ones along Beverly Blvd. are either open or about to be open today - on schedule - as the center completes that phase of its renovations efforts in time for the holidays. It's taken them 10 months to replace all five levels of the escalators. As noted on the BC's Web site, the redo includes sheet glass and tile walls and sparkles. A spokeswoman says other escalators within the center will...
We can't seem to get anough of the Viacom chairman. In the December Vanity Fair, Bryan Burrough gets his chance at dissecting the 83-year-old mogul. The thread of the piece is Redstone's health and mortality. The consensus among those unnamed Hollywood types is that Redstone's firing of the two Toms (Freston and Cruise) was less about substance and more about showing the world that he's still the man - even if his actions might suggest...
A little away from our usual terrain, but apparently there was some buzz out of Washington this morning about the President's surprisngly light schedule, given that the mid-term elections are only days away. At the White House morning briefing, a reporter observed that the light schedule made it sound “like something is cooking there.” Spokesman Tony Snow replied, “No, not really” - an answer perhaps designed to keep the Dems guessing. Topping the list of...
This has become a year-round pursuit, but November is when things become serious and THR's Martin Grove lays out all the possibilities. Several dozen features were considered contenders earlier in the year, but many of them have been shot down by critics or poor box office numbers or both. Among the stronger possibilities are "The Queen," "The Departed" (this could be the year Martin Scorsese finally gets a best director Oscar) and "Little Miss Sunshine."...
Power of cable: It's certainly seen in Time Warner Inc.'s third-quarter profits, which were nearly triple that of a year earlier. The company announced this morning that Time Warner Cable's revenue rose 44 percent, to $3.2 billion - much of that the result of picking up bankrupt Adelphia Communications. But it's more than that - the company has really pushed the bundling of cable with Internet and phone service (as new Time Warner Cable subscribers...
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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