Compiled by Julie Leupold
TOP STORIES
Broadcom Corp. cofounder Henry Samueli pleaded guilty last week to one felony count of lying to federal investigators about his role in the backdating of stock options at the chipmaker. Samueli is set to pay more than $12 million. The deal still needs court approval. He could see three to five years of probation. After the plea, the National Hockey League suspended Samueli, who owns the Anaheim Ducks, from being involved with the team pending his Aug. 18 sentencing hearing.
TECHNOLOGY
Newport Beach chipmaker Conexant Systems Inc. is adding two directors, one of them a Western Digital Corp. veteran. William Bendush and Matthew Massengill are set to join Conexant’s board. Bendush is set to be chairman of the audit committee and sit on the governance and composition committee. Most recently, he was chief financial officer at Sunnyvale-based Applied Micro Circuits Corp. Massengill also will sit on the governance and composition committee and on the compensation and management development committee. He spent 22 years at Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital, most recently as chairman of the board and chief executive.
Texas-based Austin Ventures has pledged $50 million toward the start of a holding company that’s set to buy online media businesses. Online startup veteran Sherman Atkinson is forming Atcor Holdings Inc., which will be based in Aliso Viejo.
Santa Ana’s TTM Technologies Inc., a maker of printed circuit boards, won an $8 million contract from Britain’s BAE Systems PLC. TTM is set to make and assemble specialized circuit boards for BAE from plants in Santa Clara and Connecticut.
HEALTHCARE
Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. and Alcon Inc., which employs more than 670 people in Irvine, signed a patent cross-licensing deal related to eye lenses implanted during surgery. The deal covers implant insertion devices and a one-piece lens implant design. Advanced Medical is going to pay Alcon $10 million for worldwide licenses under a family of Alcon patents. Alcon is going to pay $31 million for licenses under two families of patents owned by Advanced Medical related to coating systems used in its Monarch and Acrysert lens implant insertion devices, and any similar future coating systems Alcon may develop.
REAL ESTATE
Tony Thompson, former chairman of Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis Co., said on he’s unhappy with the real estate investor and brokerage’s performance and is seeking re-appointment to the board. Thompson is Grubb’s second-largest shareholder with a 14% stake. He stepped down from the board and his chairman seat in early 2007, after his former company, NNN Realty Advisors, acquired Grubb & Ellis. The company said it would respond “in due course.”
A Corona couple that tried to buy a home at auction filed a lawsuit against several companies, including Irvine’s Real Estate Disposition Corp., accusing them of a “bait and switch scheme.” At an auction in Pomona in March, Juan and Laura Torres made the highest bid,$146,000,for a Corona property, according to the suit, and then were asked to pay more than $50,000 more to close escrow. The suit, filed by the Huntington Beach’s Spainhour Law Group, seeks class action status. Other defendants include Countrywide Home Loans Inc., GMAC Mortgage LLC and Dovebid Inc.
The price of an existing Orange County home fell 9.4% in May from April, while distressed homes on the market helped push area sales up by nearly 30% during that time, the California Association of Realtors said. The median price for an existing stand-alone OC home sold in May was $523,890, down by $54,120 from a month earlier. Prices in the county now are down 27% from a year earlier.
OTHER NEWS
Foothill Ranch-based Kaiser Aluminum Corp. said it is investing $19 million to expand its Tennessee plant. Expanding the aluminum products maker’s Tennalum division will help meet rising demand for the rods and bars that it sells to the aerospace industry, the company said. The project is slated for completion next year.
The Irvine Unified school board adopted a budget last week that calls for the rehiring of 187 temporary employees who had been laid off.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Down: Employment as OC’s jobless rate reached 4.8% in May, the highest since August 2003, according to the state. Job losses for OC are projected to hit 18,000 for a 1.2% decline this year, according to Chapman University.
