Speaking of public companies, something we’re doing in this Special Issue, which features our annual list of the top 100 in OC based on market cap starting on page 10 and related stories throughout: Anyone else notice the local vein of irony in the ongoing battle for Dell Inc.? The computer maker bought Quest Software for $2.4 billion last year after a round of bidding that started when Vinny Smith set out to take the Aliso Viejo-based company private, putting his shares in with private equity backers for an offer. Quest’s board formed a special committee to oversee the sale, set a “go-shop” period, and won kudos for getting an extra $400 million or so for shareholders with Dell’s offer. Michael Dell’s moves look similar to Smith’s, magnified by a factor of about 10. The Dell founder has put his shares in with private equity backers for a bid of about $24.4 billion. A special committee of Dell’s board set a go-shop period and is now considering offers from Blackstone Group and Carl Icahn …
Quest’s final price came to a premium of about 20% compared with the $2 billion Smith and his backers had on the table. That would push Dell’s final price past $29 billion if the factor-of-10 holds …
Forbes recently picked up an item from Dividendchannel.com that amplifies the status of one of the top 10 public companies on our list this week, noting that Russell 3000-component Sunstone Hotel Investors’ market cap was at $2 billion near press time, ahead of some of the companies in the lower ranks of the S&P 500. That’s also a bit ahead of our number, which reflects the company’s market cap at the end of Q1… The Business Journal switched the ranking criterion for the list of public companies from revenue to market cap this year. Dividendchannel.com offered a succinct explanation of why market cap matters in its note on Sunstone: “Comparing market capitalization … creates a true ‘apples-to-apples’ comparison” of valuations. …
A recent story in the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot whined about an apparel maker called Laguna Beach Jean Co. It apparently operates from “a graffiti-stained warehouse” that “sits between a heavily fortified check-cashing business and a dollar discount store” in Los Angeles, with no operations whatsoever in Laguna Beach. It’s worth noting that the name-game works all sorts of ways in business, as in the Irvine-based LA Fitness brand. And how about our local baseball team? Then there’s L.A. Spas, which set up shop in Anaheim but borrowed its first name from our neighbor to the north. That turned out OK: L.A. Spas founder Bill Holmes recently donated $27 million to a new tower that will bear his name at CHOC, also known as Children’s Hospital of Orange County …
Every knock is a boost: the Insider takes that standard from a wise Irish grandmother and offers it to local lawyer John Hueston, who took a knock in a New York courtroom while representing energy mogul William Koch, who has accused Silicon Valley rich guy Eric Greenberg of selling him a bunch of counterfeit vintage wine for $320,000. Hueston’s line of questioning apparently got under Greenberg’s skin, according to the NY Daily News: “This reminds me of My Cousin Vinny right now,” Greenberg reportedly “blurted” from the witness stand. Here’s the boost: Cousin Vinny won his case in the 1992 hit comedy.
