Federal regulators deemed Buena Park-based Pepsi Cola Federal Credit Union insolvent and shut it down. The credit union had about $652,000 in assets and served 558 members. It had posted a total of $14,000 in losses over the past two years. It was started in 1956 to serve employees of Pepsi Cola Bottling Co., which is not affiliated with Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo Inc.
The chief executive of Santa Barbara County turned down an offer for the same post in Orange County. Chandra Wallar withdrew from consideration after the Board of Supervisors balked at her request for a $290,000 annual salary.
The City of Irvine ended a contract for legal services with Costa Mesa-based Rutan & Tucker LLP, the Orange County Register reported. Rutan & Tucker helped the city incorporate in 1971, and had provided it with various legal services in the decades since. The decision to end the contact came on a 3-2 vote by the City Council in closed session.
Hoby Darling, a former executive at Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike Inc. and Volcom Inc. in Costa Mesa, was appointed president and chief executive of headphone maker Skullcandy Inc. The company, which saw sales of about $297 million, has headquarters in Park City, Utah, and an office for marketing in San Clemente.
The number of homes in Orange County with mortgages that exceed their market value dropped by 28,000 in 2012, a decline of 25% from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic Inc.
Santa Ana-based disk drive maker STEC Inc. announced that settlement talks to avert a proxy battle with two investors have broken down. San Francisco-based Balch Hill Capital LLC, STEC’s biggest shareholder with a 9% stake, has been calling for a sale of the company. Boston-based Potomac Capital Advisors, which has roughly a 1% stake, joined Balch Hill in a recent securities filing that contended “shareholder value is at risk without a reconstituted board.” STEC said it has “gone to great lengths to offer a reasonable compromise to the two parties” and is “disappointed that the dissidents have decided to pursue this wasteful course of action.”
Bankrupt Santa Ana-based antenna and amplifier maker Powerwave Technologies Inc. is set to lay off 182 of its 226 workers in the U.S. on April 1, based on documents filed with the state Employment Development Department.
Children under the age of 14 will no longer be allowed to visit Disneyland or Disney California Adventure in Anaheim on their own. Parent Walt Disney Co. set a new policy barring children younger than 14 from entering any of its U.S. amusement parks unless accompanied by someone who’s 14 or older. Disneyland had no minimum age requirement prior to the new policy.
A proposed extension to an agreement that sets limits on operations at John Wayne Airport would allow some increases in passengers and flights at the airport after 2020. The proposal represents a consensus of representatives of government and community groups, including the County of Orange, the City of Newport Beach, the Airport Working Group and an organization called Stop Polluting Our Newport. The proposal will be the subject of public hearings and an environment impact report, and must be approved by county officials and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Maxine Margaritis has been named regional chief executive officer of the Santa Ana-based chapter of the American Red Cross, which has oversight of the nonprofit’s operations in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Margaritis replaces Stanley Perdue, who resigned last year to focus on family matters.
Virginia and Utah are jumping on the bandwagon of states trying to woo away California businesses, and Orange County firms are among those on their radar, the Register reported. The governors of the two states have invited several hundred OC business executives to a meeting on April 11 in Costa Mesa. The efforts follow Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent tour to court California businesses, which included stops in OC.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
UP: Sales of businesses in Orange County in February, when 128 private enterprises changed hands, an increase of 58% compared with a year earlier, according to BizBen.com. It was the second-highest number of deals in the state, behind Los Angeles County, which saw 370 in February.
