EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach came to a standstill as the shipping lines representative, Pacific Maritime Association, locked out International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers in a labor dispute that affected 29 West Coast ports (see story, page 5) The Walt Disney Co. named Jay Rasulo, former head of its Euro Disney operation, as the chief of the company’s Parks and Resorts unit; Rasulo, who is credited with turning around Disney’s European operations, replaced Paul Pressler, who abruptly left the company to take over as chief executive at The Gap Inc. Irvine-based Intersil Corp. said it is moving its headquarters to Milpitas in Silicon Valley by December and move about 15 of its 30-odd Orange County-based staff north; the plan comes after the wireless chip maker bought Milpitas-based Elantec Semicon-ductor last year; Intersil, one of OC’s 10-biggest companies, said it would keep about 20 marketing employees at the Irvine Spectrum; the company has about 200 workers in Silicon Valley and 2,400 companywide.
TECHNOLOGY
Shares of OC tech heavyweights Irvine-based Broadcom Corp., Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. and Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. slumped after analysts cut their ratings on the companies and storage leader EMC Corp. said it wouldn’t meet earnings expectations for the year; Broadcom fell 13% and hit an all-time low of 10, Emulex fell 27% to 8.22 and QLogic was down 17% to 21.86 Costa Mesa-based FileNet Corp. said its third-quarter revenue would fall 3% to 5% short of expectations, although the company said it expected profit to be in line or slightly higher than expectations Salt Lake City-based Category 5 Technologies Inc. completed its acquisition of Huntington Beach-based MindArrow Systems Inc.; the company will operate under the name Avalon Digital Marketing Systems with MindArrow Chief Executive Robert Webber taking the top position and Category 5 shareholders owning 55% of the new company Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. said the U.S. District Court in Connecticut dismissed a patent infringement suit for its V-chip technology; the company, which filed the suit against the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Assoc-iation, the Consumer Electronics Association and some TV makers, said it might pursue antitrust charges or file an appeal.
HEALTHCARE
The Food and Drug Administration approved Irvine-based Allergan Inc.’s Avage cream to treat facial wrinkles and skin discoloration Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said it will launch a health maintenance organization plan next year that offers members one-half of the doctors and one-third of the hospitals offered in a standard plan; PacifiCare said the narrower network would use providers that score high on quality tests and meet its cost threshhold Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. said it completed a $22 million acquisition of its Japanese cardiovascular joint venture with Deerfield, Ill.-based Baxter International Inc. The Children and Families Commission of Orange County approved a nonprofit venture between UCI Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of Orange County that will provide pediatric care; the hospitals will use $28.5 million in tobacco-tax money this year and $81 million in the next three years to fund the venture A group led by Micro Investment LLC invested $8.5 million in Irvine-based Micro Therapeutics Inc. to up its stake in the company to 57.6%.
GOVERNMENT
Environmental tests show that 22 acres of the former Tustin Marine base set aside for a Santa Ana Unified School District K-8 school could be too contaminated to use; if Santa Ana rejects the land, the city of Tustin would pay $22 million to Santa Ana as part of an agreement reached after eight years of contentious negotiations between the cities The University of California, Irvine, received its second-largest grant ever,$14.2 million,for training and outreach programs that will provide after-school development classes for math and science teachers in Santa Ana, Newport-Mesa and Compton Meanwhile, California State University, Fullerton received its largest grant ever, a $6.5 million funding that the school will use to improve math education in four OC school districts Chapman University withdrew its bid to buy KOCE-TV; OC’s public TV station is looking for a buyer or partner to help pay about $8.5 million to upgrade the station to digital broadcast by 2003 to meet federal requirements; the University of Southern California also has expressed interest in buying KOCE The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a Republican fund-raising group, filed suits against the cities of Anaheim, Huntington Beach, Orange and Fountain Valley to overturn laws limiting membership dues; the Lincoln Club won a similar suit against Irvine.
REAL ESTATE
Los Angeles developer CIM Group said it plans to build apartments, stores and a new library in Anaheim’s historic area near City Hall; CIM, which helped redevelop Birch Street in Brea and the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, said it would spend $65 million on the project, which could begin in six months if the developer and city officials agree on the plan The Santa Ana City Council said it will consider a $3.6 million plan to subsidize three businesses that would occupy the vacant Phillips Hutton Building at 4th Street and Broadway Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. said its September new-home orders more than doubled to 645 vs. last year, propelled by recent acquisitions in Florida and the Carolinas The Costal Commission ordered Newport Beach-based John Laing Homes, a unit of WL Homes LLC, to stop construction on its 70-home Hellman Ranch project in Seal Beach because the homebuilder was grading on an Indian burial site An affiliate of New York-based Blackstone Real Estate Advisors closed on its acquisition of the 1.7-million-square-foot Park Place office complex in Irvine; the value of the deal is reportedly about $200 million.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Buena Park-based chrome-plating company Ultra Wheel Co. and some of its top executives were charged with 17 felony counts of hazardous-waste dumping into the sewer system; Jim Smith, co-owner of a NASCAR Winston Cup Racing team and owner of Ultra Wheel, was among those charged Sports agent Leigh Steinberg accused former associate David Dunn of taking half his clients and then using blackmail to avoid a lawsuit after Dunn and five workers left Steinberg Moorad & Dunn Inc., a unit of Canada’s Assante Corp., last year; Steinberg is seeking $40 million in the suit The board of the Orange County Fair said they would book concerts at the 18,500-seat Pacific Amphitheater for the first time in seven years Foothill Ranch-based The Wet Seal Inc. warned that its third- and fourth-quarter earnings would be lower-than-expected because of slow sales of sweaters and pants.
