TOP STORY
The county’s job market took a step back in July as employers cut jobs on a monthly basis for the first time in 2010 since January. Employers here shed 10,300 jobs in July from June for total of 1.36 million nonfarm workers, according to the state Employment Development Department. The cuts marked the first monthly decline here this year since January, when employers shed 14,600 workers. The unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in July from 9.5% in June. On a yearly basis, the county showed its first gain since the current employment downturn began with 8,800 jobs added from July 2009.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Vizio Inc., which designs and markets digital TVs and related products, was neck and neck with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. for market share in the second quarter. Samsung’s lead as the top seller of liquid-crystal display TVs in the U.S. was less than one percentage point over Vizio, according to El Segundo-based market tracker iSuppli Corp.
Irvine-based chipmaker WiSpry Inc. tacked on another $6 million as part of an ongoing venture funding round. WiSpry, one of the county’s best-funded startups, has raised about $55 million to date. The company makes chips that help extend the battery life of cell phones and allow them to have fewer dropped calls.
Disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. named Tim Leyden chief operating officer. He previously was chief financial officer. Wolfgang Nickl takes over as chief financial officer and a senior vice president. Nickl previously was vice president of finance.
HEALTHCARE
Metagenics Inc., a San Clemente-based maker of vitamins and supplements that’s part of Amway parent Alticor Inc. of the Ada, Mich., acquired Irvine’s Catalina Lifesciences Inc., which makes Bariatric Advantage for weight loss surgical patients. Terms weren’t disclosed.
REAL ESTATE
Orange County’s median home price inched up $5,000 in July from June, but sales fell by nearly 26% after losing the boost of federal homebuyer tax credits. The median price for a home was $450,000 in July, about a 1% gain from June, according to San Diego-based MDA DataQuick, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. The median price here now is $30,000, or 7%, higher than a year earlier but about 30% below OC’s highest median price, set in the summer of 2007. Sales totaled 2,527 in July, down 26% from a month ago and 19% from a year earlier.
San Clemente-based hotel owner Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. is buying the Royal Palm hotel in Miami Beach. The company, which owns all or part of 30 hotels, bought the 409-room hotel for $126 million at a foreclosure auction. The company plans to renovate the hotel.
Stoneridge Capital Partners of Newport Beach, an investment company funded by Hot Pockets creator Paul Merage, bought a pair of airport-area Holiday Inns in Denver. Terms weren’t disclosed.
APPAREL
Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. reported mixed results for the recently ended quarter and offered an outlook for the current one that was below Wall Street expectations. For the three months through October, Wet Seal expects profits to come in at $800,000 to $2.4 million, versus the $4 million Wall Street had been looking for. Sales are seen coming in at $139 million to $144 million, versus $141.5 million a year earlier and the $148 million analysts had in mind.
FINANCE
The parent of Costa Mesa’s Pacific Mercantile Bank, the largest homegrown bank in the county by assets, took a major writedown in the second quarter as it concluded raising $12.6 million in cash. Pacific Mercantile Bancorp opted to take a $9 million non-cash charge in the quarter after some expected tax savings did not materialize, pushing its losses to the $12 million mark. The bank’s interest income from loan fees and interest was $12.9 million, up 4% from a year earlier. Deposits increased by $41 million, or 4%, to $973 million.
OTHER NEWS
Irvine Company owner and Chairman Donald Bren testified about his relationship with ex-girlfriend Jennifer Gold in a lawsuit over child support. Gold claims her two children, fathered by Bren, should receive $134 million in extra child support. Bren testified that he was “shocked” when Gold got pregnant and never talked about starting a family with her. According to Bren’s lawyers, he’s paid about $10 million in child support over 14 years plus college money as agreed to in four legal pacts with Gold.
Embattled vocational school operator Corinthian Colleges Inc. saw its shares plunge last week on a weak outlook for the current quarter and the threat of government regulation. Santa Ana-based Corinthian warned Wall Street of a profit shortfall as it deals with regulatory uncertainty. Earlier this month, an Education Department report showed that fewer than 20% of students at Corinthian and other for-profit schools are repaying federal loans. The government plans to use the loan repayment figures to determine whether school operators can remain eligible for federal loans.
Harrison “Buzz” Price, an engineer turned theme park strategist whose research led Walt Disney to place theme parks in Anaheim and Orlando, Fla., died at age 89 in Pomona. Property developer and entrepreneur Edmund Shea Jr., who cofounded Shea Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in OC, died at his home in San Marino.
