EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Corning Inc. said it plans to close its Fountain Valley plant and cut 190 local jobs by midyear; Corning, which has cut 44% of its overall workforce in the past few years amid the telecommunications slowdown, said it will no longer make the wavelength switchers and blockers produced at the OC plant it built two years ago… Chapman University in Orange said it’s considering a merger with the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona; Chapman, with 4,700 students, doesn’t have broad graduate level health or medicine programs while Western, with 1,500 students, is looking to expand its academic programs; a decision is expected within a year.
FINANCE
Orange-based lender Nationscapital Mortgage Corp. was fined $457,000 and ordered to repay $712,000 to Washington borrowers who claimed the company engaged in deceptive tactics and operated unlicensed offices; Nationscapital owner Jamie Chisick is the son of Brian Chisick, who founded Irvine-based First Alliance Corp., which also settled a deceptive practices case; Jamie has been banned from doing business as a mortgage lender in Washington for 20 years … Irvine-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. got regulatory approval to buy Orange-based title insurer ANFI Inc.; three separate lawsuits have been filed against ANFI, alleging Fidelity’s buyout offer is too low … Santa Ana-based title insurer First American Corp. said its fourth-quarter net income grew 58% to $82.8 million vs. a year ago on a 28% increase in revenue to $1.4 billion; current order levels are solid, which “should bode well” for results in the first half of the year, the company said.
GOVERNMENT
California State University, Fullerton proposed a $250 million plan to build on-campus housing, parking garages and a pedestrian mall in the next decade; the plan would allow for Cal State’s enrollment of 30,000 to grow by about 25% … OC’s roads, sewers and other basics need up to $20 billion in upgrades in the next two decades, according to a report from business and government leaders who were asked by the Orange County Business Council to put a price tag on the infrastructure report card organized by the University of California, Irvine’s engineering school … The passenger count at John Wayne Airport rose 11.7% to 617,319 in January on a 2.1% rise in commercial flights to 7,105.
HEALTHCARE
Shares of Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. slumped 18% to 22 after the company said its fourth-quarter operating income was $78.5 million vs. a $19.7 million loss a year earlier, on a 4.6% decline in revenue to $2.7 billion; PacifiCare said its profit was boosted by unused reserves set aside to cover medical costs … Shares of Costa Mesa-based Ribapharm Inc. slumped 19% to 4.73 after Schering-Plough Corp. inked a licensing pact with Three River Pharmaceuticals LLC for a generic drug version of Ribapharm’s ribavirin drug, which has been used in conjunction with a Schering drug to treat hepatitis C; Ribapharm and Three River are embroiled in a patent lawsuit over ribavirin … Irvine-based Cardiac Science Inc. filed a patent lawsuit against Royal Philips Electronics NV over its portable heart defibrillators.
REAL ESTATE
The Cooks Corner Roadhouse at the gateway to Trabuco Canyon east of Lake Forest was listed for sale; owner Frank de Luna is asking $2.9 million for the 77-year-old bar and 12.2-acre site, which is below the planned Saddle Creek and Saddle Crest 162-luxury home developments.
TECHNOLOGY
Win one, lose one: Intel Corp. won the right to take Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. back to court over a communications chip patent claim, but a judge ruled a second patent suit against Broadcom couldn’t be pursued; a judge previously ruled that Broadcom did not violate Intel’s technology on either chip; Broadcom said it would appeal the ruling … Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co. said 2002 sales grew 42% to $1.5 billion on a 15% increase in memory module sales to 31 million; privately held Kingston doesn’t release income results … Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. said it plans to sell drives used in business computer servers; Western Digital, which primarily makes drives for desktop computers, left the business market three years ago.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Foothill Ranch-based sunglass maker Oakley Inc. warned it would cut 2003 expenses by $5 million as a weak retail environment was hurting sales; Oakley said its fourth-quarter operating income fell 74% to $1.1 million on a 14% increase in sales to $102.9 million … Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America and Irvine-based affiliate Kia Motors America Inc. opened a joint $31 million, 90,000-square-foot design facility in Irvine; Korean automaker Hyundai, which sold 375,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year, aims to sell 1 million by 2010 … Grace Ministries International broke ground on a 26-acre development in Fullerton; plans call for a 2,500-seat church and a high school by 2006 … Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc. said same-store sales at its Irvine-based Taco Bell unit rose 3% in the fourth-quarter; total sales at Yum, which also operates the KFC and Pizza Hut chains, jumped 12% in the quarter to $2.5 billion.
