TOP STORIES
Western Digital Corp., Irvine, promoted COO Matthew Massengill to president and CEO and elected director Thomas E. Pardun chairman, to replace the retiring Chuck Haggerty, who will also step off the board June 30 … Sage US Inc., Irvine, acquired Best Software Inc., Reston, Va. for $445 million … PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., Santa Ana, said it will eliminate 450 jobs, about 5% of its work force, by layoff and attrition and take a $7 million or $8 million charge … Parker Aerospace said it will sell its Irvine headquarters; the Parker Hannifin unit did not comment on its plans for the site’s 500 employees (related story, page 1) … Boeing Co. agreed to acquire the satellite unit and two related businesses of Hughes Electronics Corp. for $3.75 billion and said the 9,000-employee operations will continue to be run by Hughes’ Tig Krekel in El Segundo, but will report to Boeing’s Seal Beach-based Space and Communications Group; Boeing said it expects few layoffs to result, but it may close its little-used Seal Beach plant; Boeing said it will offer profit bonuses to 80,000 non-union workers, including about 16,000 in Southern California … The state Coastal Commission agreed to an Irvine Co. request to delay a hearing on its Crystal Cove development so the company can look for alternatives to a controversial holding basin and culvert; the commission staff was said to be preparing to recommend that Newport Beach-based Hearthside Homes’ proposed Bolsa Chica project be shrunk from 183 acres to 65 acres to preserve environmentally sensitive areas … The Laguna Beach City Council approved a plan for a $150 million resort complex on the coastal Treasure Island property … Baxter International’s Irvine-based CardioVascular Group, slated to be spun off, took its new name: Edwards Lifesciences Corp. The Irvine school board voted to place a proposed property tax, defeated in November, on an April local election ballot.
GOVERNMENT
In what was seen as a move to ensure labor support for the proposed El Toro airport, the supervisors voted to guarantee unions nearly all jobs on county construction projects for the next five years, in a deal that also bans strikes and lockouts (see Comment, page 50); the Association of OC Deputy Sheriffs opposed the anti-airport Measure F, which would also hinder jail construction … An engineering report commissioned by state Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, concluded that steel bars used in the seismic upgrade of the Orange Crush interchange are too brittle to withstand a major quake … Superior Court Judge John Woolley turned down Santa Ana’s request that he invalidate the OC Transportation Authority’s purchase of a 31-acre site in the city for a bus yard; the city said it will appeal … Caltrans awarded a $1.7 million contract for Orange Crush interchange work to PKB Construction.
PERSONNEL
Erik van der Kaay, president and CEO of Datum Inc., Irvine, was named chairman, succeeding Louis Horwitz, who will remain a director … Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. named Guy P. Abramo chief information officer; former Frito-Lay exec Patrick T. Collins VP of U.S. sales, replacing senior VPs Lisa Balash-Baker and Debbie Tibey, who retired; and former Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Larry C. Boyd to be VP of U.S. legal services; and promoted Jerry A. Lumpkin to the new position of senior VP of U.S. marketing, Al E. Mann to head of the U.S. product-management division and Cynthia A McGuire to VP of U.S. human resources … Pimco Advisors Holdings, Newport Beach, hired former Goldman, Sachs & Co. municipal bond trader Mark McCray to manage its four municipal-bond funds … Richard N. Rasmus was named president and COO of Flashcom Inc., Huntington Beach; Brad Sachs will continue as chairman and CEO … Retired McDonald’s Corp. exec Thomas W. Glasgow Jr. joined the board of ZLand.com, Aliso Viejo.
WHAT’S NEW
UCI College of Medicine researchers reported finding a virus possibly responsible for ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease (see item on page 38) … Aliso Viejo startup NetCity.com Inc. said it will buy 100,000 smart-card readers from Litronic Inc., Irvine, for free distribution to subscribers when it launches its e-commerce web site in March … Walgreen Co. said it expects to expand from six Southern California stores to 200 by 2004 … Dana Niguel Bank, Dana Point, changed its name to Harbor National Bank and said it expects to open a Newport Beach branch in March … TelePacific Communications, Los Angeles, opened an office in Orange, where it plans 60 employees … The Orange County Register said it will launch a magazine division, OCR Magazines, headed by parent Freedom Communications exec Christopher Schulz … Lumenyte International Corp., Irvine, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
LITIGATION, INVESTIGATIONS
Experian Inc., Orange, and two other credit bureaus agreed to pay $2.5 million in fines and adopt higher customer-service standards to settle an FTC complaint … Commonwealth Energy Corp., Tustin, agreed to pay $250,000 in refunds and $100,000 to the PUC, and to remove founder and former CEO Fred Bloom from any involvement in its California operations, to settle state investigations.
DEALS
QLogic Corp., Costa Mesa, acquired Borg Adaptive Technologies Inc., West Palm Beach, Fla., for $7.5 million and said it will take an unspecified charge related to the deal … Quest Software Inc., Irvine, completed its acquisition of Foglight Software, Pleasanton, for $104.4 million (related story, page 1) … BI Technologies Corp., Fullerton, was acquired by U.K.-based TT Group plc for $5 million … Pacific Property Co., Palo Alto, acquired the 184-unit Brook Park West Apartments in Buena Park for $12.5 million … TriZetto Group Inc., Newport Beach, acquired Healthcare Media Enterprises Inc., Petaluma … Pen Interconnect Inc., Irvine, said it had sold its Orem,Utah-based PowerStream Technology unit Telenetics Corp., Lake Forest, acquired EFLEX Wireless Inc. BigFNI.com, Laguna Niguel, sold $5 million in shares in a private placement … A group led by TH Lee.Putnam Internet Partners LP acquired $19 million in shares of Brea-based Krause’s Furniture Inc. to become its largest shareholder Techniclone Corp., Tustin, licensed its anti-cancer Vascular Targeting Agent technology to SuperGen Inc. for $8 million … SM & A; Corp., Newport Beach, received two Air Force contracts totaling $4.9 million.
IN CONCLUSION
The FTC approved Irvine-based Fidelity National Financial Inc.’s $1.2 billion acquisition of Chicago Title Corp. … Broadcom Corp. co-chairman Henry Samueli and his wife, Susan, said they will donate $5.7 million to create the Susan Samueli Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the UCI College of Medicine … The supervisors approved spending $6 million to eradicate fire ants … Bank robberies in OC rose to 145 in 1999, up 12%, it was reported.
