EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Henry T. Nicholas III resigned as chief executive of Irvine-based Broadcom Corp., a company he co-founded (see story, page 1); meanwhile, Broadcom said its fourth-quarter pro forma net loss narrowed to $6.6 million from $9.1 million vs. a year ago on a sales increase of 30% to $296 million … Costa Mesa-based Ribapharm Inc. said its chief executive and chairman, Johnson Y.N. Lau, and six other top executives quit the drug maker; Kim D. Lamon, a director of Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., which owns an 80% stake in Ribapharm, was named as the drug maker’s new chief executive with Daniel J. Paracka the new chairman; Ribapharm has been involved in a nasty dispute with ICN, which spun off 20% of the drug maker’s shares last year but backed off plans to spin off the rest of the company.
FINANCE
Higher loan volume and cost cutting helped Irvine-based Westcorp post fourth-quarter net income of $19.5 million, 51% higher than a year earlier, on a 15.5% gain in interest income to $301.7 million … Irvine-based subprime mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. said its fourth-quarter operating income more than doubled to $92.6 million on a doubling of revenue to $186.7 million vs. a year earlier.
GOVERNMENT
County Chief Executive Michael Schumacher, criticized for weak oversight of the budget-plagued Planning and Development Services Department, was dumped by the Board of Supervisors; Jim Ruth, Anaheim’s former city manager, is interim chief … meanwhile, the planning department has proposed raising developer fees to make up for a budget shortfall; average fees on a 2,000-square-foot home on county land would rise 64% to $2,335 under the proposal, nearly twice what Riverside County charges … The University of California regents approved $27.6 million to fund working plans for a $340 million replacement for earthquake-vulnerable UCI Medical Center; construction is set to begin later this year with a 2007 completion target … Anaheim said it faces a $3.2 million general fund deficit amid a slowdown in tourism; the city will cut spending 3% to make up for shortfalls in sales tax and bed tax revenue.
HEALTHCARE
Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. said it will cut 3% of its 10,000 workers and consolidate its life science research and specialty testing units; the cuts include 80 workers at plants in Fullerton and Brea, 120 employees at its other U.S. operations and 100 overseas workers; Beckman, which will take a $16 million charge related to the cuts, also said some 4,000 workers would no longer be eligible for post-retirement medical benefits … San Clemente-based Biolase Technology Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings would be at the high end of estimates.
TECHNOLOGY
Many of OC’s biggest tech companies reported earnings: Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. said its operating income for the quarter ended Dec. 27 rose nearly six-fold to $76 million on a 30% jump in sales to $749.5 million vs. a year ago; Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. said its pro forma operating loss in the quarter ended Dec. 27 narrowed to $28.6 million on a 16.5% rise in sales to $164.5 million vs. a year earlier; and Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. said its operating profit for the quarter ended Dec. 29 jumped 65% to $25.5 million on a 22.9% rise in sales to $76.4 million … Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. is among at least nine tech companies sued by Raytheon Corp., which accuses the companies of violating its patented storage technology … Irvine-based Microsemi Corp. said it would expand its board of directors by one member to eight and said it had three nominees to replace outgoing directors; in December, Microsemi Chairman Philip Frey Jr. retired and Nick Yocca stepped in as acting chairman … Shareholders of Irvine-based retail touch-screen maker Aspeon Inc. won an appeals court ruling to sue the company and its former chief executive, Richard Stack, over alleged securities fraud … Irvine-based financial data provider FreeRealTime.com Inc. emerged from bankruptcy and will pay creditors, owed some $6.3 million, about 10 cents on the dollar; shareholders of the company, which is trading on the pink sheets, get nothing.
REAL ESTATE
San Juan Capistrano-based Kings Capital sold Arco Plaza in Los Angeles to Thomas Properties Group for $270 million; Kings got the option to sell the property when it bought about $900 million in Japanese owner Shuwa Investment Corp.’s debt … Irvine-based Fidelity National Financial Inc. said it will buy Pittsburgh-based real estate appraiser Lender’s Services Inc. for undisclosed terms; the acquisition of Lender’s Service, which had $155 million in sales last year, is set to close within a month … Irvine-based Crown Realty & Development plans to buy the Burbank Media City Center mall from San Diego-based Pan Pacific Retail Properties Inc. for $110 million.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
The Orange County Performing Arts Center said it plans to sell bonds to help finance a $200 million expansion; the center has raised about half of its target from private funds, but is having trouble finding more and has pushed back the expansion’s opening two years to 2006; Bank of America Corp.’s securities group is expected to market the bonds … Irvine-based Caliber Holdings Corp. filed suit against the state Bureau of Auto Repair for posting violations and disciplinary actions on its Web site (see related story, page 3) … Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is looking to buy a U.S. plant or use one of Germany’s DaimlerChrysler AG, which owns 30% of Mitsubishi, to make cars here; the automaker, whose U.S. unit is based in Cypress, plans to boost North American sales by 11% to 400,000 this year.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: Orange County’s housing market in December, with the median price of sold homes up 16% to $385,000 vs. a year ago, and the number sold rising 14.1% to 4,435.
Down: OC’s job picture in December, with nonfarm payroll falling 0.6% to 1,425,500 vs. a year ago, and the unemployment rate rising 0.5% to 3.7%.
