Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
Orange County’s job losses for 2008 came in a staggering 41,400 workers, a 2.7% decline, according to the state’s Employment Development Department. The county’s employment rate ended the year at 6.5% in December, up from 6.2% in November and 4.3% a year earlier. December’s job losses versus a year earlier topped November’s 38,400 annual decline, which had been the highest in a running string of declines. The yearly job losses and unemployment rate are at levels not seen since the early 1990s recession.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine chipmaker Microsemi Corp. lowered its outlook for the current quarter after reporting mixed results for the three months through December. Microsemi now expects a profit of $12 million to $16 million on sales of $105 million to $110 million. Analysts, on average, had been looking for profits of $26 million on sales of $128 million. For the December quarter, Microsemi’s sales came in lower than expected at $131 million while profits came in higher at $29 million. Before the results, Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. analyst Craig Berger lowered his 2009 estimates and price target for Microsemi.
Epicor Software Corp.’s George Klaus has come out of semi-retirement for a second stint running the Irvine-based maker of business software, which has had a tough past year on Wall Street. He replaces Tom Kelly, who unexpectedly stepped down after less than a year running Epicor. Kelly left “to pursue other interests,” the company said. Epicor, which reports fourth-quarter results on Feb. 4, had recruited Kelly to replace Klaus last February. Klaus became executive chairman at that time.
HEALTHCARE
Alliance Imaging Inc., a Newport Beach medical imaging and cancer care provider, said it will change its name to Alliance HealthCare Services next month. Alliance is changing its name to reflect the progress of a diversification bid. In the past year, Alliance has moved into providing radiation treatments for cancer, alongside its core medical scanning business.
REAL ESTATE
A Newport Beach developer has won back $944,162 in lawyer’s fees, the lion’s share of what it spent last year to contest a lawsuit brought by a potential shopping center tenant. The award follows a recent ruling made by an Orange County Superior Court judge, who dismissed the case in September on grounds that it was legally flawed. Rite-Aid Corp. sued the developer, Mariners Mile Gateway LLC, in a dispute over delayed construction of the Bel Mare in Newport Beach, an upscale shopping center that’s been in the works since 2004. Rite Aid is appealing.
The county’s median home price fell below $400,000 in December, the lowest price the area’s seen since mid-2003. The median price of an OC home was $397,000 in December, a $3,000 decline from November, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. Median prices here are down about 30% from a year earlier and are off more than 38% from their all-time high in June 2007. Sales increased 49% from a year earlier, with 2,580 homes sold in December. Sales here were up 19% from November.
Irvine-based John Laing Homes is reviewing its operations because of deteriorating conditions and has cut jobs. The company, part of Dubai’s Emaar Properties, “is currently reviewing all potential options to meet its capital requirements,” the company said in a statement. John Laing also is deciding whether to halt sales on projects and shut down some of its U.S. offices, the company told Reuters. John Laing had close to 200 employees in OC.
San Juan Capistrano has entered a $10 million deal to buy a 150-acre plot of land in the northwest part of the city owned by Garden Grove-based Crystal Cathedral Ministries. The city plans to use 34 acres of the land for an assisted living and retirement home
project, while acquiring the remaining 116 acres in the next few years for open space preservation, according to the Orange
County Register. Crystal Cathedral Ministries will keep 20 acres for its retreat center and chapel.
FINANCE
WaterHealth International, an Irvine clean-water company, has lined up $10 million in venture capital from Dow Venture Capital, part of Dow Chemical Co., and Sail Venture Partners. The company hopes to complete the $20 million round of funding in March.
Foothill Ranch-based American Sterling Bank is being taken over by insurer Phoenix Cos. after a plan to shore up the bank was rejected by regulators. Hartford, Conn.-based Phoenix plans to take over American Sterling Bank and get federal funding from the government’s banking bailout program. The deal is expected to close within a month. Larry Dodge, a prominent philanthropist and businessman who lives in Dana Point’s Monarch Beach, is the current owner of American Sterling Bank.
OTHER NEWS
Newport Beach-based Wonderland Bakery was tapped to make cookies for President Obama’s inauguration parties. Obama’s team ordered 6,000 sugar cookies emblazoned with a presidential emblem for various parties.
Walt Disney Co. is offering voluntary buyout to more than 600 employees to try and cut operations costs. The offer extends to 91 employees in Anaheim.
