EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante set Gov. Gray Davis’ recall election for Oct. 7 … The Air Force plans to transfer seven of 19 satellite launches worth about $1 billion from Boeing Co.’s 1,300-worker Huntington Beach-based Delta IV rocket program to Lockheed Martin Corp. The move is punishment for Boeing’s admission that two of its former engineers took trade secrets from rival Lockheed Martin and used them to help Boeing win contracts in the late 1990s. Boeing also is barred from bidding on launch contracts until the Air Force said the aerospace company has taken steps to correct the problems.
TECHNOLOGY
Shares of Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. fell 17% to 9.75 after the disk drive maker said it plans to buy bankrupt Read-Rite Corp. of Fremont for $95.4 million. Read-Rite makes heads that read data, a key component in Western Digital’s drives. Western Digital will pick up about 600 workers in Fremont and 6,000 at a Thailand plant in the deal. Meanwhile, the company said its operating profit in the June quarter more than doubled to $46.9 million, versus $17.2 million a year ago, on a 26% increase in sales to $680.3 million … Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. settled a patent dispute with Intel Corp. over graphics chips sold with Intel’s microprocessors, with neither side admitting wrongdoing. Another lawsuit between the companies is pending. Meanwhile, shares of Broadcom sunk 11% to 23.53 after the company said its second-quarter operating loss widened to $826.9 million, versus a loss of $128.3 million a year ago, on a 46% jump in sales to $377.9 million. The chipmaker said it could face tough competition from Intel in server chips. And Sun Microsystems Inc. said glitches in server chips it bought from Broadcom cost the company $50 million to fix … Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. said it won a pact to supply chips to Motorola Inc.’s cable set-top box unit. Broadcom had been Motorola’s sole supplier … California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued Aliso Viejo-based Fax.com for $15 million for violating the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending unsolicited ads via fax machines and phones … Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com Inc. launched an Internet-based music-buying service.
HEALTHCARE
Costa Mesa-based Ribapharm Inc. said ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s $5.60 per share offer to buy the 20% of Ribapharm it doesn’t own still is too low, despite a recent court ruling that will allow generic drug makers to produce a version of ribavirin, Ribapharm’s key drug. Shares of Ribapharm were trading at 5.59 at recent check … Shares of Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. plunged 14% to 27.5 after the company reported that its second-quarter operating profit was flat at $31.1 million, versus a year ago, on a 26% rise in sales to $217.8 million. Edwards said that it could be “challenging” to reach its sales growth goal of 7% to 9% this year … Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said its second-quarter operating profit, excluding a one-time charge for its $265 million Bardeen Sciences Co. acquisition, rose 23% to $100.8 million, versus a year ago, on a 31% increase in sales to $441.5 million.
REAL ESTATE
The Irvine Company sued Sweden’s IKEA International AS for allegedly violating a lease it holds at the Tustin MarketPlace. IKEA left the 150,000-square-foot Tustin location in May and moved to a 310,000-square-foot space in Costa Mesa. The Irvine Co. claims that the Costa Mesa store is within eight miles of the Tustin site, violating its MarketPlace lease, which runs until 2008 … Developer Michael Harrah said he wants to build 24 artist lofts on a Santa Ana block he owns that includes the historic United Auto Building at First and Main Streets. Harrah wants to turn the United Auto Building, which he has restored, into a vintage car museum and restaurant called Original Mike’s. The city is set to review the proposals in the fall … State Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi upheld a court ruling banning lien-protection policies, a cheaper but less secure form of title insurance. Philadelphia-based Radian Group Inc., which offered lien protection, plans to appeal the ruling.
GOVERNMENT
The Orange County Transportation Authority voted to pursue plans for an eight-mile CenterLine light-rail project connecting the Santa Ana Transportation Center and John Wayne Airport … The U.S. Department of Transportation said it won’t step in and turn over the former El Toro Marine base to Los Angeles, which wants to turn the property into a commercial airport … The University of California, Irvine, said private donors gave $57 million to the school for the 12-month period ending June 30. That’s 61% higher than a year earlier, when UCI’s fundraising office was going through leadership changes.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. and Switzerland’s Xstrata PLC won a deal with Peru’s Southern Peru Copper Corp. to upgrade a smelter … Tiffany & Co. said it plans to open a Temple St. Clair jewelry store at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa on Sept. 18 … John J. Cronin, cofounder and chief executive of Rancho Santa Margarita-based Professional Association of Diving Instructors, passed away. He was 74. Cronin also was an active OC philanthropist and Republican, serving as campaign finance chairman for former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Orange County’s housing market in June, with the median price of homes sold rising 15.3% to $414,000, versus a year ago, but the number of sales down 0.8% to 4,755.
Down: OC permits in the second quarter, with builders filing permits for 1,450 homes, down 22% from a year ago, and 347 apartments, down 77%, according to the Construction Industry Research Board.
