TECHNOLOGY
Newport Beach-based Conexant Sys-tems Inc. warned sales in the quarter ending Dec. 31 would be $140 million, down from a prior forecast of $175 million to $185 million. The chipmaker blamed inventory reduction for the decline. Conexant also said it would take a charge of $40 million to $50 million in the quarter related to lower prices for some of its gear … Irvine-based Autobytel Inc. warned that its 2004 and 2005 earnings would be impacted by higher than expected operating costs related to Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, an internal audit review and customer sales. Revenue isn’t expected to be affected. Shares of the online auto referral company fell nearly 30% to $5.5 on the news … Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. plans to buy Global Patent Holdings LLC for about $28 million. Acacia will pick up 27 patent portfolios in the deal, which is expected to close by the end of February. Acacia offered $5 million upfront, $2 million to be paid in the next two years and 3.9 million shares, which were trading at $5.4 last week. Global Patent’s holdings have generated $40 million in revenue … Phil Adam, president of troubled Irvine game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp., stepped down for undisclosed reasons. He had been with the company for more than a decade.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said regulators found its Botox treatment was not the cause of four patients falling ill after being treated at Advanced Integrated Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Food and Drug Administration said sick patients were given massive doses of an unregulated, unlicensed and unapproved bulk botulinum toxin distributed by a Northern California manufacturer … Oswald Steward, director of the University of California, Irvine’s Irvine-Reeve Research Center, was named one of 29 people to oversee $3 billion in voter-approved funds marked for stem cell research. Steward is UCI’s second faculty member named to the board, along with biologist Sue Bryant … San Clemente-based BioLase Inc. won a patent for its laser pulse technology used in the company’s Waterlase MD device … Lake Forest-based Cooper Cos. restated earnings for parts of 2003 and 2004 to reflect a change in accounting for its convertible notes. The maker of contact lenses and medical devices also warned that its 2005 earnings results would be lower than expected because its $1.2 billion buy of rival Ocular Sciences Inc. was taking longer than previously thought. Shares of Cooper slumped 7.6% to $68.8 on the news. Meanwhile, Cooper said its operating profit in the quarter ended Oct. 31 rose 12% to $32.4 million, versus a year earlier, on a 16% rise in sales to $130.8 million … Woburn, Mass.-based pION Inc. and Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. said they plan to sell test gear that will help determine whether a drug candidate has the potential to be commercialized. Under the five-year pact, Beckman’s drug screening technology will be used in the test system … Santa Clara-based Visx Inc., which is being bought by Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc., won regulatory approval for its WaveScan vision surgery laser to treat farsightedness and astigmatism … Irvine-based Cortex Pharm-
aceuticals Inc. said it agreed to sell 4.2 million shares to new and existing shareholders to raise $11.3 million to develop drugs and hire three or four healthcare professionals in the next six months.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. named Joel N. Waller as chief executive. Waller, chairman of Brooklyn Park, Minn.-based Wilsons The Leather Experts Inc., takes over the struggling retailer Feb. 1 after he steps down at Wilsons. Waller replaces interim chief Joseph Deckop who stepped in after Peter Whitford resigned … Garden Grove said Kam Sang Co. plans to develop a Sheraton Hotel on Harbor Boulevard, south of Chapman Avenue in the city’s International West area. Work on the Sheraton, part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., is set to begin in October with completion in 2007 … Irvine-based Ballet Pacifica plans to hire star dancer Ethan Stiefel to lead the struggling group as artistic director. Stiefel will be charged with doubling the size of the dance troupe, with a budget that will triple to $6.5 million in the next few years. Stiefel will be the fourth director at Ballet Pacifica since 2003.
