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No big Hollywood names to testify, but the folks from HBO’s “In Treatment” will have a field day.
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.
February 2008
The L.A.-based defense contractor pulls huge upset in $40-billion contract for refueling tankers.
When will investigators start asking company and government honchos about slaughterhouse abuses?
January unemployment in L.A. County was 5.7 percent, up from 5.4 percent a month earlier.
As the dollar keeps declining, cheaper California wines are finding an overseas audience.
L.A. gas prices jump, dollar keeps dropping, SAG leaders keep squabbling, and Ticketmaster talking to AEG.
A low-level employee from slaughterhouse could be cutting plea deal as Chino takes it on the chin.
Co-CEOs Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne are out as Time Warner looks to tighten up its movie operations.
Shifting a series from Webisodes to prime time could be a challenge, at least based on Tuesday night's numbers.
L.A. officials insist on jamming as many rental units into as many already-clogged neighborhoods as possible.
Bush says there's no recession, court rejects state pollution laws, and Humane Society sues USDA over cattle.
That very slight independent movie "Once" proves that cheap budgets can produce big returns.
The list includes thousands of stores and restaurants that were supplied meat from Hallmark/Westland.
In the restaurant business, loud is young and sexy; quiet is for the Early Birds.
OC new car registrations tumble 28.5 percent in January, another sign of an slowing economy. And L.A.?
More rate cuts likely, local economy on the ropes through 2008, and Pellicano defendants negotiate plea deals.
Yes, U.S. demand is slowing and that should mean lower prices. But it's a lot more complicated.
Starbucks will be closed for several hours tonight and the competition is ready to pounce.
Local restaurants and supermarkets appear to have received the beef from the Chino slaughterhouse.
More bad news on home prices, WGA seeks revenue boost, and even the Oscar ads tanked.
Movies that were too grim and had relatively little star power probably doomed this year's show.
General manager tells WSJ that cash has become tight and some customers stopped payments on checks.
An arbitration judge issued the award to a breast cancer patient whose coverage was canceled.
The new financial arrangements supposedly will allow the first phase of the project to be completed by 2011.
More likely it's just a split between the super-duper rich and the let’s-pretend rich.
Apartment rents are up, beef lobbyists pressure USDA on recall, Alitalia resumes LAX service, and Hollywood feels blue.
Getting a little outraged over Sam Zell's outrageousness? Perhaps you don't know how these guys work.
Extra work before and after the walkout is likely to cushion the minimal economic impact.
Variety up for sale, Microsoft-Yahoo deal might be close to getting done, and Omar Sharif gets his just desserts.
The man behind Newport Beach-based Pimco is sometimes accused of throwing his investment weight around.
With apologies to "Alvin and the Chipmunks," here are movies that filled seats and received good reviews.
All this suggests that at some point head honcho Sam Zell will be in major asset-selling mode.
Inflation is up, Sharper Image files Chapter 11, MySpace looking into music venture, and NBC wants year-round premieres.
Publisher is tearing apart the old-fashioned business model because a one-size fits all paper is no longer viable.
The odds of a deal are still considered low, but both sides figure they have nothing to lose.
Businesses in Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Buena Park and Santa Ana were among those issued citations.
Prices jumped $4.51, to $100.01 a barrel, which isn't supposed to happen in a slumping economy. Fooled again!
It's a first for the newspaper, which had a 15 percent drop in advertising last year.
Lindsay Lohan's fashion spread in this week's NY magazine got so many clicks that the servers crashed.
Disney's move to acquire Pixar two years ago is proving to be a financial and creative success.
Microsoft launches proxy battle for Yahoo, LAT earnings keep sinking, and inside the Chino slaughterhouse.
You might be better off in show business. Since 1990, one in four newspaper jobs have flat-out disappeared.
Don't tell anybody, but they were powdered - and his guests loved them (lots of butter and cream didn't hurt).
It's a return to those ghastly pre-1980s business sections, which were journalistic jokes.
The flashy young woman behind the Jimmy Choo empire is duking it out with her mother in court.
Health threat is small, though the feds continue looking into operations at slaughterhouse.
This is an appalling story and yet there still isn't much being reported about the company itself.
Barron's found the CNBC star to be playing fast and loose with his stock picks. But that's not the whole story.
Billionaire Ron Burkle and Activision's Bobby Kotick are on separate sides in the battle with Microsoft.
The flap over making Pico and Olympic one-way explains a lot about why nothing gets done about L.A. traffic.
Mayor pushes Pico/Olympic plan, Countrywide delinquency rate slows, and hotshots subpoenaed in Pellicano case.
Meet Jeffrey Berns of Tarzana, who last year filed more subprime-related lawsuits than anyone.
Who is the better tyrant... er, boss? We'll put our money on the Rotten Old Bastard.
You might argue that down is down, no matter the measurement. But the degree of down can be a big deal.
The NYT will eliminate 100 newsroom jobs through buyouts, attrition and possibly layoffs.
Bernanke says economy will rebound later this year, Rocky goes after health insurers, and prepare for V-Day gridlock.
The online prediction market has proven to be eerily reliable over the years. So what happened in California?
Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich could become the Coen brothers of the food business.
January median price is down to $458,000; L.A. County home sales tumble 50.1 percent.
The paper will reduce its workforce by 100-150 jobs, including 40-50 in the newsroom.
Actors push for early talks, Blue Cross pulls back from outrageous policy, and USC stays in Coliseum.
There's little chance of an outright acquisition, but what about Murdoch picking up a large stake?
Malibu-based publisher sells financial title to the owner New Beauty magazine, Need we say more?
Port officials are pushing for a new site in the outer habor, but community groups are raising a stink.
GM loses big bucks, writers vote on ending strike, JetBlue launches LAX service, and Lerach prepares for jail.
Trader Joe's seems to think it's perfectly safe. But many of the chain's customers apparently think otherwise.
An increase in cover prices and Hollywood sites like TMZ might have played a part.
With the strike almost over, there’s endless speculation on how the advertising landscape might change.
The San Diego attorney is headed to federal prison for his role in a kickback scheme involving class-action lawsuits.
Yahoo rejects Microsoft bid, writers hail contract, home prices fall in January, and law firm cleans up.
The new plan is for all members to cast ballots; writers could be working by Wednesday.
Grudging acceptance of the tentative agreement, but why not wait until the membership can vote?
Writers will discuss the terms at a membership meeting tonight. They could be back working by Monday.
Ad agencies, just like networks, newspapers and magazines, operate under old rules that don't work anymore.
Editor Jon Meacham is proud of his magazine - if only more people read it.
Writers strike seems to be nearing an end, credit card delinquencies are up, and another luxury condo.
Credit a writer with close ties to Peter Chernin, an agent and a top entertainment lawyer.
Would you believe a Disney theme park attraction based on the Fox series? Sure you would.
But wait a second, shouldn't Writers Guild negotiators let their members have a peek?
Wall Street isn't thrilled with plans to open fewer stores, and diners might not like the higher prices.
Paris Hilton lets her hair down to the OC Register. Oh, and she's also promoting her shoe line.
Retailers report a lousy January, restaurant chains losing business, and LB port told to clean up.
The head of the giant Blackstone Group has become the poster child for Wall Street greed.
Delta could be close to a merger with Northwest - and United with Continental.
A new WSJ survey of economists put the chances at 49 percent, up from 40 percent in January.
Homes generally don't demand a premium just because a celebrity happens to be living there.
New Line to get whacked in TW restructuring, writers at odds over tentative deal, and not enough air traffic controllers.
It will be the first time the general membership will get a briefing on the proposed contract.
As reflected in the polls, Obama has been gaining. On the Republican side, McCain has it locked up.
A Citigroup analyst says the likeliest bet is Yahoo holding out for more money and then accepting offer.
Advertisers have been slow to ramp up their online dollars because they don't know exactly what they'll be getting.
Writers close in on deal, market down sharply on new worries, and the old Super Bowl predictor is back in play.
Plans are to introduce a new "fast-casual burger concept" sometime this Spring. As reported by Nation's Restaurant News, a 2,000-square-foot prototype is scheduled to open in Los Angeles, with a burger-centric menu that also features soups and salads (isn't that what they already had)? There are very few details in the NRN story, such as whether the new HH will be in the old locations (Hollywood, Brentwood) that recently closed. This is not the greatest...
At least a few folks are ticked off by the paper abandoning its stand-alone biz section and throwing financial news to the back of the first section (LAO). On the Register Blog, Publisher Terry Horne acknowledges the upset, but adds that readers shouldn't "credit our decisions to greed." The Hoiles family, which has a majority stake in the paper, "has agreed to accept dramatically lower performance, both last year and in our projected 2008 business...
This is what happens when you buy into the stock market at just the wrong time. You might recall that as part of her mega-deal with L.A.-based Live Nation, Madge received 1.17 million shares of the company's stock - at roughly $21.30 a share. Call it $25 million. Live Nation is now trading at $11.78 and as Silicon Alley Insider's Peter Kafka points out her stake is worth $13.8 million. Investors have been turned off...
Here's one more thing to worry about: The precarious state of a group of companies called monoline insurers, which basically guarantee that if a bond defaults they will cover interest and principal. You might have run into them when buying muni bonds, where they got their start. MBIA and Ambac are among the biggest – and they’re both in financial trouble. The New Yorker's James Surowiecki picks up the story from there: Unfortunately, a sleepy,...
Feds looking into insider sale: The SEC is investigating sales of stock by L.A. billionaire and Societe Generale board member Robert A. Day and two foundations. Also, according to the WSJ, the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y., has opened a criminal probe related to the bank, although its focus wasn't known. Day and the foundations sold $140 million of Societe Generale stock about two weeks before the bank notified its board about the billions of...
How do you keep them down on the picket line after word of a breakthrough between the Writers Guild and the media companies?
A tentative agreement may come as early as the end of next week - without requiring the two sides to return to formal bargaining. For the last two weeks, Writers Guild negotiators and several media moguls (Disney's Bob Iger and News Corp.'s Peter Chernin in particular) have been engaged in "informal" talks. The NYT's Michael Cieply reports this afternoon that a breakthrough occurred on Friday (Nikki Finke has reported much the same progress). From Cieply's...
The Irvine fast-food chain has ended its relationship with Hallmark Meat Packing, a Chino slaughterhouse that's under investigation for its treatment of sick cows. (Hallmark packs meat for Westland Meat Co.) You might have seen video from the Humane Society showing all kinds of horrible treatment of sick cows. As reported by the OC Register's Nancy Luna on her Fast Food Maven blog, In-N-Out is among the first restaurants to admit a connection to the...
Microsoft finally does it: Lots of coverage this morning on the $44.6 billion (cash and stock) unsolicited offer for Yahoo. It's a 62 percent premium over Yahoo’s closing price on Thursday. Here's a good summation from Ben Worthen on the WSJ's Business Technology blog: This deal is about more than search and advertising. It’s about the way people and businesses use computers. A decade ago, software was something you installed on your computer, and information...
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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