EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc. named broadcasting executive Alan J. Bell, 70, chief executive after Samuel Wolgemuth resigned under pressure from Freedom’s board; Bell oversaw Freedom’s eight TV stations meanwhile, the Orange County Register, the largest piece of Freedom’s media holdings, hired general manager Ray Stafford to run its daily operations; Stafford was publisher of Freedom’s daily Monitor newspaper in McAllen, Texas, since 1994 Anaheim’s City Council reversed a Planning Commission vote on Grupo Gigante SA de CV’s plan for a 54,000-square-foot supermarket at Anaheim Plaza (see story, page 3); the commission recommended against granting a liquor license for the site, effectively nixing Gigante’s plans there; after months of acrimonious debate, including charges of racism, Anaheim’s council voted 3-1 to let Gigante,Mexico’s largest supermarket chain,buy an existing liquor license from elsewhere in the city.
TECHNOLOGY
Software consultant Cotelligent Inc. is moving its headquarters and seven top executives to Irvine from San Francisco and plans to invest $5.1 million for a stake in Lake Forest-based Bluebook International Inc.; Cotelligent already has 75 workers at Irvine’s University Research Park Irvine-based Newport Corp. is cutting 225 to 275 jobs, or 20% of its workforce, as the telecommunications slowdown continues to punish its fiber optics business; Newport, a maker of telecommunications and chip gear, plans to sell its Plymouth, Minn., plant and consolidate operations in Irvine, San Luis Obispo and Billerica, Mass., as it slows down its fiber optics business to focus on its chip and research units; 125 workers could be cut from Newport’s OC operations Newport Beach Conexant Systems Inc. no longer will be the only video encoder chip provider for Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox game system; Campbell-based Focus Enhancements Inc. plans to develop a chip for Microsoft Irvine-based Entrada Networks Inc. plans to buy Edison, N.J.-based Savant Consulting Group Inc. in a stock deal for an undisclosed amount Buy.com Inc. founder Scott Blum’s ThinkTank Holdings bought 15% of the shares of Huntington Beach-based GolfGear International Inc. for $3 million Santa Ana-based CenDyne Inc. got a $4.5 million investment from Taiwan’s Test Rite Inc., which also opened its global purchasing system to the seller of CD burners Aliso Viejo-based Fax.com Inc. was hit with a $2.2 trillion lawsuit for allegedly violating a ban against unsolicited faxes; the suit was filed by Infoseek Corp. founder Steve Kirsch and nonprofit group Redefining Progress and also charges a Cox Communications Inc. unit that provides Fax.com’s telephone lines Costa Mesa-based Tickets.com Inc. said its second-quarter operating loss widened 55% to $14.3 million on a 5.4% increase in revenue to $17.5 million vs. last year; the company said lower baseball and concert ticket sales and the loss of Las Vegas client Thomas & Mack Center hurt revenue.
HEALTHCARE
Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it wouldn’t go ahead with a proposed deal to buy a unit of San Diego-based Genetronics Biomedical Corp.; ICN will pay Genetronics $100,000 to break the deal Irvine-based Allergan Inc. is being sued by Peapack, N.J.-based Pharmacia Corp. for alleged patent infringement for Allergan’s glaucoma treatment Lumigan Irvine-based NeoTherapeutics Inc. said it will focus on cancer and antipsychotic medication research after it wraps up its study of neotrofin, a once-promising Alzheimer’s drug that failed a late stage clinical trial in April; NeoTherapeutics said it cut 50% of its workers and has 21 full-time employees The Food and Drug Administration OK’d for sale Irvine-based Interpore International Inc.’s Access System medical device.
GOVERNMENT
Cypress and Cottonwood Christian Center officials reportedly are close to working out a deal that would give the church property on what now is the Cypress Golf Course in exchange for giving the city church land that it plans to seize by eminent domain so it can sell to Costco Wholesale Corp. or another retailer Federal agents arrested as many as 47 mostly Latino immigrant workers at John Wayne Airport who allegedly didn’t have proof of legal residency; the arrests came as part of a post-Sept. 11 crackdown on airport workers; meanwhile, two bomb-sniffing dogs started patrolling John Wayne, which was given an $80,000 grant by the Transportation Security Administration so it could join the 50 other U.S. airports with dogs; the county spent $400,000 to build a kennel at the airport for the bomb-sniffers Tustin’s City Council said one developer will be chosen to transform about 800 acres on the former Tustin Marine base into homes, businesses and a golf village; the city previously planned to divide up the land to be developed by several companies Auditors are looking into an OC planning department fund used for building inspections that is missing $2.5 million; investigators said theft has not been ruled out Two thousand California State University, Fullerton, students will start classes at the former El Toro Marine base this week; classes in business administration, nursing and education among others will be given at a 46,000-square-foot facility that was given a $1.3 million renovation after the school moved its South County operations from Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
REAL ESTATE
Newport Beach-based William Lyon Homes plans to sell $200 million of senior notes maturing in 2012; the company will use the funds to pay back existing debt.
FINANCE
Garden Grove-based Hycor Biomedical Inc. said it hired Seidler Cos. as a financial advisor to pursue divestitures or acquisitions after the company recently said it was no longer in talks with potential acquirers.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim said its operating profit fell 1.3% to $8.8 million for the year ended June 30 Shares of Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. fell 11% after the clothing retailer said it was disappointed with its July sales and that the company’s third-quarter sales would be flat; Wet Seal said its second-quarter operating profit grew 8.4% to $5 million on a 7.8% rise in revenue to $146.2 million Chicago-based Strategic Hotel Capital is suing Marriott International for allegedly concealing profits and engaging in deceptive business practices at three Strategic-owned, Mariott-managed hotels in Southern California including the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel.
