Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: The outlook on bankruptcies by business and individuals in Orange County in October, which saw 1,440 filings, down 8.2% from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Central District of California. Bankruptcy filings here reached an historic peak of 1,881 in March.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. has won conditional approval from the European Commission for its pending purchase of Hitachi Ltd.’s Viviti storage business. Viviti is part of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd., and the approval in Europe comes as Western Digital seeks to wrap up its $4.34 billion buy of the San Jose-based business. Under terms of the approval, Western Digital agreed to sell off some disk drive production to address antitrust concerns. Separately, Western Digital said it will challenge a U.S. arbitrator’s $525 million ruling in a dispute involving allegations of “misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets.” The claims were pressed by rival Seagate Technology LLC of Scotts Valley, and involve a former employee.
RETAIL
Yum Brands’ Irvine-based Taco Bell recently cut 105 jobs nationwide, including some positions at its headquarters. There will be 75 layoffs, with the balance of the cuts open slots that will be left unfilled. (See related Employers list, page 10.)
GOVERNMENT
A report by staffers at the City of Newport Beach showed a better success rate for builders who file appeals of Planning Commission rejections through a City Council member. That route almost always results in a reversal of the project rejection. Appeals filed directly by applicants had a success rate of about 50% in recent years.
OTHER NEWS
Stephanie Lin of Irvine is among 32 students from across the U.S. selected as Rhodes Scholars. They will get up to three years of all-expense-paid study at Oxford University in England. Lin is a senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studies biology and applied international studies. She is editor-in-chief of MIT’s arts journal and a member of the school’s Global Poverty Initiatives program.
