Compiled by Pat Maio
TOP STORY
Longtime Broad-com Corp. Chief Financial Officer Bill Ruehle resigned amid a stock options backdating probe that could cost the company $1.5 billion.
Bruce Kiddoo, vice president and corporate controller, is stepping in as interim financial chief.
The company said Ruehle “decided to accelerate his retirement as a result of Broadcom’s previously-announced equity award review.” Earlier this month, the company’s audit committee said it found more questionable option grants that could double restatement expenses from the $750 million found in July.
Ruehle has been Broadcom’s chief financial officer for nearly a decade.
Kiddoo joined Broadcom in 1999 as controller of the broadband communications unit. He became the company’s corporate controller in 2002.
Aliso Viejo-based Datallegro Inc. raised $22.5 million in a third round of funding, bringing its total raised to more than $42 million. The round comes as the seller of data storage gear announced some high-profile customers, including Sears Holdings Corp. Palo Alto-based Jafco Ventures led the round.
Foothill Ranch-based Aristos Logic Corp. raised $15 million in a sixth round that brings its total to more than $80 million. Funding for the company, a maker of controllers for data storage systems, was led by a “new strategic investor,” along with participation from Panorama Capital, TPG Ventures Inc., Woodside Fund and QTV Capital.
Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc. extended a pact with France’s ExonHit Therapeutics SA to work on treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Terms of the pact weren’t disclosed.
Irvine medical device maker MiCardia Corp. raised $9 million in a second round of financing. HBM Biocapital, a Switzerland-based fund, led the investment with two Orange County investors taking part: MedFocus Family of Funds and the BioStar Private Equity Fund LLC.
Lindora of Costa Mesa is working with Rite Aid to open medically supervised weight loss clinics in three OC drugstores. The first Lindora Health Clinic debuts on Oct. 2 at a Rite Aid store in Costa Mesa.
Irvine’s California Coastal Communities Inc. lifted a 5% cap on ownership of its shares. The company’s board said the restriction no longer is needed for tax benefits for loss carryovers. California Coastal owns 110 acres at the Bolsa Chica mesa, where building is under way of 356 homes.
Link Newcomb resigned as chief operating officer of Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. and as a director. The sunglasses maker said Newcomb is set to serve as a part-time senior adviser to Chief Executive Scott Olivet, who is taking over Newcomb’s former duties.
Los Angeles public TV station KCET-TV is working with California State University, Fullerton, to create a channel focused on Orange County. The channel, KCET Orange, is set to start airing a year from now.
Dominion Enterprises, a Virginia company that publishes advertising magazines such as For Rent, The Employment Guide and RV Trader, said it will buy Anaheim-based Advanced Access, a provider of Web design and hosting services for real estate professionals.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: The median price of an Orange County home fell for a second straight month in August to $633,000 as the number of houses sold continued its sharp decline from a year ago. The county’s median price was up 2.6% from a year earlier,albeit the smallest yearly increase in nearly seven years. The number of homes sold in the county dropped 32% to 3,203 in August from a year earlier, but were up from July, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a unit of Canada’s MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates.
