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He's baaaack - actually, Ray Irani never really left the L.A.-based oil company. He just moved himself to the chairman's position after a shareholder revolt over his scandalously high compensation left the board with little choice. Now he's orchestrating the firing of Stephen Chazen.
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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 —
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March 2013
He's baaaack - actually, Ray Irani never really left the L.A.-based oil company. He just moved himself to the chairman's position after a shareholder revolt over his scandalously high compensation left the board with little choice. Now he's orchestrating the firing of Stephen Chazen.
This is often a wackadoodle time of year for the state bean counters who assemble the employments stats, so the new numbers for February aren't especially surprising.
There's the celebrity-studded South Doheny location, of course, but the Four Seasons name can also be found in Beverly Hills (aka the Beverly Wilshire Hotel) and in Westlake Village (owned by billionaire David Murdock). That's more Four Seasons in one metro area than anywhere else in the world.
What is it with those guys? Can't they handle internal issues internally? Latest hoo-ha is over an NBC executive reaching out to CNN's Anderson Cooper about replacing Matt Lauer before the end of the year.
Try as they might to make the budget deficit go away, members of the L.A. City Council must start to face reality (or at least City Hall's version of reality.)
Web-based shooting is getting to be a big deal in L.A., at least a bigger deal than might be realized. It's an important counterpoint to the ceaseless chatter about the perils of runaway production.
Another mission is in the books for the Hawthorne-based company as the cone-shaped Dragon capsule hits the water about 250 miles west of Baja.
More broadly, you have to wonder how many people really care where these shows are produced. Carson did have a different vibe in NY and L.A., but only because both cities had distinctive personalities in the 60s and 70s.
Except they're apparently not having much luck. Only one-in-four are able to buy tickets to R-rated movies, according to a Federal Trade Commission survey.
This is certainly good news for a campaign that's been a little glassy-eyed of late. And yet it's hard to understand how the former president has much genuine understanding of L.A.'s problems.
The jobless rate rose slightly and 81,000 payroll jobs were lost. The entertainment industry not only saw a drop of 14,000 jobs, but the December numbers were revised sharply downward.
They're taking an irreverent, Web-friendly approach - a notable contrast from the heartwarming schtick that had been used by the previous agency.
No "Hunger Games"-type runaway train so far this year, which is why the overall box office is down 13 percent from 2012 and attendance is off 14 percent.
That's been the basic strategy of the entire campaign: Say as little as possible, line up as many constituencies as possible, and hope for the best.
The online fundraising site has helped finance 122 projects in L.A., topped only by NY with 144 (SF is third, with a curiously low 67 projects).
Plano, Texas, just outside of Dallas, is where the retailer has its headquarters, but it's not where several of the top executives are living full time.
The pay-TV business (that includes cable, satellite, and telco) saw only modest growth in 2012, which will add fuel to claims that viewers - especially young viewers - are switching to cheaper ways of accessing content.
Leno's contract expires in the fall of 2014, and NBC wants to make the change by then. As part of the change, the network wants to move the "Tonight" show back to NY.
Time for Commissioner Roger Goodell's periodic non-statement about getting a team back in town. At least this one came with a prop: Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, who will take over the NFL-in-L.A. staring contest now that Tim Leiweke is out of the picture.
Forget about the traditional old-fart patronage of the arts - the primary focus is on philanthropy that generates some sort of tangible return.
It's next to impossible for minimum wage workers to afford a standard two-bedroom apartment without having to pay more than 30 percent of their income.
Only 632,000 viewers watched the season two finale of HBO's "Girls" at its regularly scheduled time, which is a sharp decline from the million or so who watched the last show of the first season. But it's not as clear cut as it sounds.
Higher even than long-time laggard Nevada, although job growth has been outpacing the nation as a whole over the past year.
Anschutz, in fact, had to be dragged into the deal for a downtown stadium. That makes his comments last week about wanting to work with the NFL a little suspect.
When and if the NFL determines that L.A.would be an attractive market, we are always willing to listen. But with the city facing so many challenges, from jobs to traffic to education, it's time for us to move on.
C'mon, you knew it would happen eventually. Today's 25-point decline, to 14,514, is only a taste of what we'll likely see in the coming days and weeks.
Assuming that the AEG-financed makeover of the Convention Center doesn't happen because the AEG-financed football stadium will never be built, City Councilwoman Jan Perry wants to explore alternatives. Good idea.
The Denver billionaire said he was concerned about the "noise" being created concerning the value of AEG (perhaps another way of saying he wasn't getting what he thought the company was worth).
The unexpected departure of AEG CEO Tim Leiweke, along with growing doubts among league officials about the financial viability of the proposed facility, may not be the death knell, but it's close.
The sports and entertainment empire has been taken off the market, the company announced. Also, CEO Tim Leiweke is leaving AEG, to be replaced by Dan Beckerman.
Since back-room utilities are never seen by passengers, fixes have been deferred until now. Installing an entirely new system makes sense, despite not having clean water for most of Wednesday.
In less than 12 hours on Wednesday, fans of the series "Veronica Mars" pledged more than the $2 million needed to produce a movie version.
The blue-chip index, which stands at 14,455, is way overdue for a pullback (markets can't go up forever), though the economic trend lines remain positive.
The number of homes selling for $500,000 or more jumped 54 percent from a year earlier - another sign that the market is now centered on higher-end buyers (many of them investors, many offering all cash) who are driving up the prices.
My gut tells me it's not going to happen (I wouldn't be surprised if their interest stirs up other possible buyers), but if the Kochs get it they get it. The world will not come to an end.
They should return to store shelves by summer. Also back in business is Wonder Bread.
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith grabs the top spot in the Business Journal's annual ranking. It's known as the place to go when you want to save some money.
More than 200,000 people are employed in tourism-related positions. What's not so nice - and what gets little attention among local boosters - are the low wages many of these jobs command.
The offering price was $20 a share, but on the first day of trading the stock closed at $77. eToys raised $164 million, but it could have been several times that number had the company been priced to reflect demand.
Accounting giant KPMG will move out of its Grand Avenue offices later this year, choosing instead a Hope Street location that's closer to LA Live. Other professional firms are doing the same.
No word on what finally brought down the operation, though a board announcement says there "may be financial irregularities."
It's a lesson on how well-placed TV ads (Super Bowl, Oscars, etc.), along with a dozen or so cover stories and a wide presence in social media can create interest in a film that has received okay but not great reviews.
Hollywood is a highly cyclical business, of course, and so employment levels tend to bounce around from month to month. This being TV pilot season could be one explanation for a bump - as well as a pickup in the number of commercials being shot.
That may be pushing things, but Alloy Digital is where the Smosh guys hang their hats, and ... you mean you haven't heard of the Smosh guys? Have a seat.
Just three days ago I reluctantly but dutifully voted for Measure A, the proposed half-cent sales tax hike that was supposed to pare down the city's mountainous deficit. Now L.A.'s mayor says it's not so bad after all.
The publisher of Hustler bought the Wilshire Boulevard property almost 20 years ago for $18.8 million, so we're talking about a nice return.
That's probably due to continuing questions about how much of the money will be handed over to the league as part of the revenue-sharing arrangement with other teams. This could turn out to be an important snag in the 25-year $7-billion TV deal.
The Disney prequel will pull in $80 million+ this weekend, according to Deadline, and they're already revving up the sequel machine. But can those early numbers translate into a long term franchise (the early reviews are not good).
We all want to know about the horse race of bidders, and yet there's no way to determine how each sale is unfolding and what the eventual outcome will be. The sellers aren't talking, at least publicly, and the unnamed sources who pop up in news stories are notoriously unreliable.
Forget about the plan to have Meredith Corp. take over People and other lifestyle titles, with Time Warner keeping Time, Fortune, Money, and SI.
You got me. L.A. voters handily defeated Measure A, which would have added a half penny to the sales tax and generated enough revenue to make up most of next year's shortfall. They apparently didn't trust city officials to spend the money wisely. So does anyone have any bright ideas on finding $200 million?
Not income inequality, wealth inequality - that is, the imbalance of people with or without enough money to spend on items that go above and beyond a daily or monthly nut.
Actually, I feel kind of sorry for the folks running for mayor - they all meant well, and goodness knows, they've worked hard. But they're not exactly natural born leaders. Hell, let's just say it: They were the dullest group of candidates I can ever recall following.
You can cite all sorts of reasons why we shouldn't be taking the new record all that seriously: The index is only made up of 30 companies and it's weighted in a strange way. It doesn't account for inflation. It doesn't reflect the overall economy. And yet the psychological boost to the financial world is hard to deny.
For aviation buffs, Dominguez Hills is a very big deal. In 1910, it was the site of the nation's first air show, what the LAT called "one of the greatest public events in the history of the West."
Not all rich people are alike when it comes to telling the world exactly how much they are worth. Some spin off their holdings and conduct business under different names in order to avoid getting on the Forbes rich list, some are indifferent to the notoriety, and some, like Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, are obsessed with being ranked as high up as possible.
Stocks have taken off in the first hour of trading, with the Dow index at around 14,259, which is almost 100 points higher than its record close of 14,164 on Oct. 9, 2007 - before the recession and financial meltdown.
The package deal would include the LAT, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and six other daily papers, Bloomberg reports, citing sources. A single transaction would be easier, but it would also mean fewer interested parties. Several potential bidders have shown some interest in individual papers, but not the entire portfolio.
His name is Andy Zaky and his upbeat forecasts about Apple had been largely spot on - so much so that he gained a large following of admiring investors who were convinced that what went up would keep going up. Not quite.
Turns out that the show has become a sensation among financial planners and lawyers who say that the Earl of Grantham's mishandling of money can be a lesson for today's investors.
In a word, sigh. Even by the normally uninspired nature of LA elections, this one has often resembled a campaign for class president. High school class president. How did it get this bad?
Some surprising numbers in an LAT/USC poll that show 53 percent of likely voters will definitely or probably cast their ballots for Measure A, which push's the city's sales tax rate to 9.5 percent from 9 percent. This is bad public policy, but there may not be much choice.
Well yeah, 87,000 viewers in the prime 25-54 demographic the other night, which even by cable news standards is practically public access territory.
While there have been a few miscues in previous launches, this appears to be the most serious.
Perhaps a bit, according to Nielsen numbers for the first half of the season. Games on Time Warner Cable's SportsNet averaged a 4.3 rating, which is down 10 percent from the like period during the 2010-2011 season (last year was shortened because of the lockout).
The Santa Monica.-based investment firm Colony Capital appears willing to pay more than the other bidders, but its offer for Anschutz Entertainment Group.is said to be below the $8 billion or so asking price.
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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