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Tuesday, Nov 5, 2024
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



Compiled by Purnima Mudnal

Newport Beach-based dMarc Broad-casting Inc., which supplies advertising software and computers to radio stations, is being bought by Google Inc. for $102 million plus payments of up to $1.1 billion in the next three years. It is the second big company sale for founding brothers Chad and Ryan Steelberg The Irvine Company acquired the 900,000-square-foot Irvine Center Towers office complex near John Wayne Airport from Cigna Corp. and Transwestern Investment Co. for undisclosed terms. Brokers estimated the sale at about $325 million, or $360 a square foot.

Shares of Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. rose after the company beat estimates for the quarter ended Jan. 1. The data storage device maker posted record revenue of $129.2 million, up 11% from the year ago-period. Net income fell 1% to $31.7 million compared to a year ago, beating analysts’ estimates of $28.2 million Meade Instruments Corp. said Chief Executive Steven Murdock is stepping down once a successor is found to run the Irvine maker of telescopes. The move comes a day after a key shareholder said Murdock’s salary should be cut amid poor results at the company Costa Mesa’s Emulex Corp. entered a multiyear distribution agreement with Santa Ana-based computer products distributor Ingram Micro Inc. to offer Emulex’s host bus adapters.


HEALTHCARE

Irvine-based Allergan Inc. received approvals from antitrust authorities in Germany and Spain for its $3.2 billion buy of Santa Barbara’s Inamed Corp. The antitrust clearances in the two countries are the only ones required outside the U.S. Ossur HF, an Icelandic medical device company with North American headquarters in Aliso Viejo, bought Foothill Ranch-based Innovation Sports Inc. for $38.4 million. The acquisition is designed to boost Ossur’s presence in the orthopedic brace market, the company said. Innovation has 150 workers and is expecting sales of $19 million for 2005 Biolase Technology Inc., a laser and dentistry products maker, plans to move from San Clemente to Irvine by May. The company cited lower rent and operating costs for the move to a bigger facility.


REAL ESTATE

The median price of an Orange County home jumped to a record $621,000 in December, up 13% from a year earlier, according to La Jolla-based market tracker DataQuick Information Systems. Volume of homes sold in the county slowed with 3,826 houses sold in December, off 9% from a year earlier … A unit of Santa Ana-based title insurer First American Corp. acquired Maryland-based software company Maryland Management Systems for undisclosed terms. Both companies make software to manage real estate listings Lawrence “Larry” Higby, chief executive of Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc., joined as an independent director at Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes Inc. The company’s board now has a headcount of nine after it replaced three directors who resigned amid a dispute over founder William Lyon’s failed buyout bid last year.


GOVERNMENT

A grand jury is examining the Great Park Corp. board and Irvine City Council members for its business practices and transactions regarding the development of the former El Toro Marine base. Councilwoman Christina Shea already has been interviewed by the OC jury. Meanwhile, the Great Park board met to pick a design firm for 1,347 acres at the former Marine base. The board is set to select from Royston Hanamoto Alley & Abey of Mill Valley, Ken Smith of New York and EMBT of Barcelona.


WHAT ELSE IS NEWS

Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. replaced its top executive with an official from its parent company in South Korea. O.S. Koh, a senior vice president at Seoul-based Hyundai Motor Co., was named chief executive of the automaker’s U.S. arm An index of local manufacturing climbed to 64.5 in the fourth quarter from 61.1 in the third quarter, a Chapman University report said. Chapman tracks production, new orders and business inventories in the Orange County composite index … Anaheim-based Bridgford Foods Corp.’s sales decreased by 5% to $130 million in the quarter ended Oct. 28 versus a year earlier. Bridgford reported a lower net loss of $340,000 for the quarter, compared with $994,000 in the same period last year. Bridgford makes processed foods Johnny Rockets Group Inc. is moving from Aliso Viejo to Lake Forest. It’s planning to open a restaurant in Lake Forest by April … El Pollo Loco Inc. named a new vice president of operations to head its 145-restaurant expansion, most of them in California and eight other states. Stephen J. Sather recently joined Irvine-based El Pollo Loco from Krispy Kreme, owned by franchisers Great Circle Family Foods in Los Angeles Tustin-based Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. won a grant of $585,000 from the Department of Defense to conduct studies of Tarvacin as a potential treatment for prostate cancer. The research is being carried out at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas Costa Mesa-based Experian Group, part of London-based parent GUS PLC, hired Gary Kearns as president of its Americas business, including U.S., Canada, Latin America and Mexico Cypress-based Real Mex Restaurants Inc., operator of El Torito, Acapulco and Chevys Fresh Mex chains, said it plans to hire an adviser to look at “strategic alternatives” that could lead to a sale of the company. Real Mex had sales of $534 million, up 63% from a year earlier in 2005 A federal report stated consumer prices surged by 4.5% in the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County region last year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that energy prices climbed by 10.2% for 2005 through December along with a 22.6% rise in natural gas service Imation Corp. bought Cerritos-based data storage company Memorex International Inc. for $330 million in cash and another $45 million if performance goals are met over three years.

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