EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
Poway-based Gateway Inc. said it plans to cut 1,500 workers by the end of the year. Gateway, under new Chief Executive Wayne Inouye, will have about 2,500 employees after the cuts. Inouye, who headed Irvine-based eMachines Inc. before it was bought by Gateway earlier this year, plans to move the company’s headquarters to Orange County by the end of the summer … Shares of Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc. fell 27% to 11.7 by midday Friday after the company’s second-quarter earnings forecast fell short of analysts’ expectations.
TECHNOLOGY
Red Bank, N.J.-based Conexant Systems Inc. said it would cut 200 workers by the end of the year, with about half of the cuts coming from the chipmaker’s Newport Beach operations. Conexant has about 650 workers in Newport Beach. Most of the OC cuts will be sales and administrative staff. Meanwhile, Conexant said sales for the quarter ended April 2 were $293 million, short of the $300 million analysts were expecting. Shares of Conexant fell 14% to 4.9 … Irvine-based Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. said it would cut 150 workers as it sheds its Wi-Fi hotspot and cable modem businesses. Rival Cometa Networks said it was taking over the Wi-Fi operation two weeks ago. Most of the cuts are back office and support workers in Toshiba’s laptop computer, phone, imaging, network and storage units. Toshiba’s Irvine operation will employ about 900 workers after the cuts, which follow 160 layoffs last year … The California Public Employees’ Retirement System said it was withholding votes for Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. directors George Farinsky, John Major, Robert Switz and Werner Wolfen. CalPERS said the directors were members of an audit committee that approved its auditor to perform non-audit services … Santa Ana-based Powerwave Technologies Inc. said shareholders approved its acquisition of Sweden’s LGP Allgon Holding AB. Powerwave also applied for a listing on the Stockholm exchange … Microsoft Corp. sued Santa Ana’s GNext Computers for allegedly selling unauthorized Microsoft software.
HEALTHCARE
Shares of Cypress-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. fell 7% to 35.7 in midday trading Friday after the health insurance plan provider reported rising medical costs, particularly in its Medicare plans, that are cutting into its profits. PacifiCare said its first-quarter operating profit fell 9% to $120 million on an 8% rise in revenue to $3 billion. PacifiCare raised its net income target for the year.
FINANCE
Irvine-based Commercial Capital Ban-corp said it plans to open a branch in Malibu in June.
GOVERNMENT
The Secretary of State’s Voting Systems and Procedures panel recommended several counties, including Orange County, can continue to use electronic voting machines despite glitches in the March primary elections. But the panel said voters must be given the choice of receiving a paper ballot and state inspectors must be able to do unannounced random testing of the electronic machines, among other measures … Assemblyman John Campbell, R-Irvine, proposed moving the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center in Costa Mesa to Irvine’s proposed Great Park. The center’s chief executive, Becky Bailey-Findley, said moving the fair would be costly, though selling the Costa Mesa site could raise at least $200 million … John Wayne Airport extended the valet parking contract with Irvine’s Parking Concepts Inc. through April 2006 … The University of California, Irvine Executive Survey found 39% of local business leaders said they plan to move some or all of their operations out of the county in the next five years. High costs for housing and labor, and transportation woes, were cited as reasons to leave OC. Still 72% of executives polled said their financial performance would improve this year. Last year 58% of executives said they expected better financial results than a year earlier.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said contract wins in the first quarter rose 19% to $3.1 billion, its highest quarterly total in seven years. The company said a big part of the gains came from government contracts, with some recently won Iraq work not booked yet (see related story, page 3) … Shares of Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. slipped 11% to 30.8 after the company said its 2004 net income would fall short of analysts’ expectations. The operator of for-profit schools said 2005 earnings would be higher than analyst expectations. Meanwhile, Anthony Digiovanni, Corinthian’s president and chief operating officer, has decided to leave the company as he “pursues other interests,” according to Corinthian … Irvine-based Boost Mobile LLC, a unit of Nextel Communications Inc., said it added 132,000 subscribers to its mobile phone service in the first quarter. Boost said it has more than 500,000 subscribers in all and plans to start selling service in New York, Texas, Florida and other markets in the eastern U.S. … Irvine-based DynTek Inc. said it plans to sell stock and warrants worth $7.5 million to private investors. The company said proceeds of the stock sale will be used to fund acquisitions and for general corporate purposes. Meanwhile, DynTek said it won a $2.5 million contract renewal with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services … Westminster-based Air to Water Co. said it is expanding distribution of its atmospheric water generator beyond the West Coast to the rest of the U.S. The generator produces up to 10 gallons of water a day by drawing and filtering moisture from the air.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Down: Venture funding in Orange County in the first quarter, with local startups getting $54 million in funds, the smallest amount since the first quarter of 1998 and down from $129 million in the fourth quarter, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Ven-ture Economics and the National Venture Capital Association.
