EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TECHNOLOGY
Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp. said its audit committee probe into software sales in Asia has been expanded to look at how the company accounts for all global sales. The maker of industrial and engineering software plans to restate earnings results for the past three and a half years … Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. said it cut 5%,26 workers,from its staff … Former Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. said Robert McMullan resigned as chief financial officer after five months. The chipmaker, which is based in New Jersey and has major operations in OC, named Scott Blouin to the post. Meanwhile, Conexant said it plans to cut 300 workers by the end of the year, in addition to 200 layoffs previously announced.
HEALTHCARE
St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude Medical Inc. said it plans to pay $47 million for the 86% of Irvine Biomedical Inc. that it doesn’t own. The Irvine-based catheter maker had sales of about $14 million last year … Irvine-based Cardiac Science Inc. said its Japanese partner, Nihon Kohden Corp., made a $3.7 million order for the device maker’s automated external defibrillators. The devices are set to be shipped this quarter and next. Meanwhile, Cardiac Science won approval from the Food and Drug Administration to sell its new Powerheart AED G3 Pro defibrillator to medical and emergency workers … Irvine-based Endocare Inc. named Michael Rodriguez chief financial officer. The device maker is being investigated by the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission for its 2001 and 2002 financial results. Rodriguez replaces Katherine Greenberg, who was hired in 2003 … Irvine-based Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. signed a licensing pact with Canada’s Aeterna Zentaris Inc. to develop a drug to treat hormone-dependent cancer and some benign disorders. Spectrum will pay cash, stock and royalties to Aeterna for rights to the drug.
REAL ESTATE
Opponents of developer Michael Harrah’s proposed One Broadway Plaza in downtown Santa Ana started a petition drive to get the project on the November ballot. The 37-story office tower would be Orange County’s tallest building.
FINANCE
Santa Ana-based First American Corp. inked a five-year, $500 million borrowing pact that it could draw on for general corporate purposes or acquisitions.
GOVERNMENT
The Orange County Transportation Authority said it would consider loaning Placentia $2.5 million to continue its OnTrac rail project. Placentia had asked for $5.7 million, but the agency is concerned about the city’s finances … Attorney General Bill Lockyer told the Transportation Corridor Agencies that a proposal to extend the Foothill (241) Toll Road through San Onofre State Beach park has problems because of noise, pollution and other environmental fallout. Three of the six proposed extension routes go through San Onofre park. A final environmental report is due early next year.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Industry-based Yum Yum Donut Shops Inc. said it plans to buy Santa Ana-based Winchell’s Donut Houses Operating Co. for undisclosed terms. The deal for Winchell’s, which is owned by Canada’s Shato Holdings, is expected to close in the next two months. Winchell’s has 200 doughnut stores … Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. won a $57 million engineering deal for work at a Statoil AS gas processing plant in Norway. The project includes building a new gas compression train and revamping the existing plant to boost production … Walt Disney Co. said revenue at its parks and resorts unit in the June quarter rose 32% to $2.3 billion. Attendance at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim rose 1%, versus a year earlier, while Walt Disney World in Florida saw a 20% jump in the period … Shares of Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. fell 28% to 1.8 after creative director Victor Alfaro resigned for undisclosed reasons. The struggling teen retailer said it was looking for a replacement. Alfaro joined Wet Seal about a year ago. His fall collection was his first for the company, which had been counting on Alfaro to turn around the company’s struggling stores … Newport Beach sports agent Jeff Moorad was named as chief executive of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team. (See story, page 4.) Moorad, who will step down from his agency, Moorad Sports Management, is set to join the Diamondbacks Jan. 1 if the move is approved by Major League Baseball. He will become chairman a year later … The Festival of Arts voted to prohibit licensing or franchising the Pageant of the Masters art re-creation show … Bankrupt Costa Mesa gun maker Bryco Arms was auctioned to former plant manager Paul Jimenez for $510,000. The company was forced to file for bankruptcy after an Oakland court found it partly liable for the paralysis of 17-year-old Brandon Maxfield as a result of a shooting accident. Maxfield bid $505,000 for Bryco, with plans to shutter the company if he won Dalton, Ga.-based Tandus Group Inc. said it planned to close its 150-worker carpet-making plant in Santa Ana. Tandus is consolidating the Santa Ana operations with its plant in Truro, Nova Scotia. Some workers may be offered jobs elsewhere in the company.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: The price of existing Orange County homes sold in the second quarter, with the median price of homes trading hands rising 38.7% to $655,300, versus a year earlier, according to the National Association of Realtors.
