Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
Boeing Co. said it’s setting up a rocket launch venture with Lockheed Martin Corp. The move could mean about 1,100 jobs at Boeing’s Delta rocket operations in Huntington Beach could move to Lockheed’s Colorado facilities, where the venture, called United Launch Alliance, will be based. The venture’s rockets will be made at Boeing’s plant in Decatur, Ala. … Costa Mesa-based Experian Information Solutions Inc. said it bought Santa Monica’s LowerMyBills.com for $330 million plus up to $50 million in performance-based payments. Experian is a unit of Britain’s GUS PLC … Costa Mesa-based Anna’s Linens, a bed and bath retailer targeting ethnic shoppers in urban areas, filed to go public in a stock offering that could raise $69 million. The company, which runs 182 stores in 12 states, plans to use the money to open more stores, pay off debt and for general purposes. Anna’s Linens had sales of $225 million for the 12 months ended Jan. 30, up 45% from a year earlier. The company had net income of $5.3 million for the recent 12 months, up 22% from a year earlier … Walt Disney Co. marked Disneyland’s 50th anniversary (see related story, Tourism’s Come a Long Way
Since Disneyland in the 1950s).
TECHNOLOGY
Anaheim-based DDi Corp. said it planned to close two facilities and consolidate some operations at its headquarters amid a soft market for printed circuit boards. The company said it is set to shutter a plant in Arizona and a corporate support center in Colorado. DDi said it will move human resources workers from Colorado to Anaheim, and shift most of the Arizona work to a plant in Virginia … Irvine-based VitalStream Holdings Inc. said it bought PlayStream LLC of Seattle for about $2.7 million in cash and stock, plus 200,000 warrants to buy VitalStream stock at $1.35 a share. Shares of VitalStream were trading at 58 cents a share last week. Privately held PlayStream had sales of $1.6 million last year … Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. said its Computer Cache Coherency Corp. unit added Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to a patent case filed over its core logic chipset technology. Acacia said the technology allows desktop, notebook and server computers to operate at faster speeds … Irvine-based Comarco Inc. said it will miss the deadline to file its annual report for the year ended Jan. 31. The maker of gear for testing wireless phone networks said its former auditor, KPMG LLP, must complete an audit report for 2003 and 2004 after Comarco changed the makeup of its reporting segments. Comarco said it expects to file its report within the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 15-day grace period.
Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc., a maker of eye surgery and contact lens products, said it plans to exercise an option to buy startup Quest Vision Technologies Inc. Terms weren’t disclosed. Quest Vision, based in Northern California’s Tiburon, is a research and development stage company that started in 2000 … Cooper Cos. warned that its 2005 revenue wouldn’t meet expectations but reaffirmed its profit guidance. The Lake Forest-based maker of contact lenses and surgical equipment now expects sales of $840 million to $850 million, down from a previous estimate of $867 million and $850 million. The revenue forecast slide stems from its $1.2 billion buy of Ocular Sciences Inc. earlier this year.
Newport Beach-based Nationwide Health Properties Inc. said it paid $121 million to buy out partner JER Senior Housing LLC from a chain of 46 assisted living and Alzheimer homes.
Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. said its Techstar Automotive Group won a contract to supply vehicle parts to an unnamed customer. Tecstar plans to double its warehouse and distribution space in Livonia, Mich., to 80,000 square feet to handle the work.
Newport Beach-based Roth Capital Partners LLC said it plans to open an asset management unit headed by Gordon McBean, the investment bank’s former research director.
OC-based automakers reported higher U.S. auto sales in April, except for Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., which continues to wrestle with steep sales declines. Mitsubishi said it sold 9,230 vehicles in April, down 43% from the year-ago period. Gainers included Irvine-based Mazda North American Operations, up 2.6%, Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America, up 16.9%, and Irvine-based Kia Motors America, up 15.9% … Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. closed a $30 million sale of stock and warrants. The company paid off a $12 million bridge loan and plans to use the remaining $18 million for general corporate uses … Meanwhile, OC’s retailers posted April same-store sales. Wet Seal said sales rose 36% last month, easily beating Wall Street views. Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. reported a 6.4% fall in sales, its first decline in years, disappointing analysts who were looking for a slim increase … Irvine-based Diedrich Coffee Inc. again delayed filing its financial report for the quarter ended March 9. The company and its former auditors haven’t finished their review of Diedrich’s lease accounting policies. Diedrich plans to restate its earnings going back to 2002 … Grimmway Farms owners Bob and Kari Grimm and Barbara Grim Marshall donated $6.3 million to Concordia University in Irvine. The funds are set to be used to build the school’s three-story, 45,000-square-foot Education, Business and Technology Center, which is expected to open next year … Bill Thompson, managing director and chief executive of Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co., and his wife donated $8.5 million to the University of Missouri-Columbia to fund an autism treatment and research center … Gordon Shaw, a retired University of California, Irvine physicist whose Irvine-based Music Intelligence Neural Development Institute attracted support from big-name technology executives, passed away at his Laguna Beach home last week. Shaw, 72, died of kidney cancer, according to his family.
