Compiled by Mike Mason
A jury found the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim did not violate the terms of its lease in switching the team name from Anaheim Angels last year. The city of Anaheim had sued the Angels, alleging the name change violated the lease signed under former team owner Walt Disney Co. Wayne Inouye, who brought Irvine-based Gateway Inc. to Orange County after emerging as the computer maker’s leader in 2004, resigned amid slow sales to businesses and via the Internet. Chairman Richard Snyder, a former Gateway president who took the chairman’s spot after the 2005 retirement of founder Ted Waitt, becomes interim chief executive. Gateway plans to mount a search to replace Inouye, who resigned for “personal reasons” and signed a non-compete pact with the computer maker that lasts until the end of the year (see front page story).
Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. saw a mixed ruling in its patent dispute with San Diego-based Qualcomm Inc. Qualcomm said that a San Diego federal judge ruled Broadcom can’t take its infringement claims on two of its Bluetooth-related patents against the chip designer to the International Trade Commission. But three other patent infringement complaints by Broadcom will go before the commission. Those cases are expected to begin next month A New Jersey jury ruled Conexant Systems Inc. must pay $112 million in damages stemming from a patent dispute. The jury said Conexant’s GlobespanVirata unit, which was acquired in 2004, infringed on three patents for digital subscriber line technology held by Texas Instruments Inc. and related parties. No payments are required until the end of the second phase of the trial, which involves antitrust accusations. The jury trial for the second phase is scheduled for October. Conexant’s shares plummeted on the news IBM Corp. bought Irvine-based Viacore Inc. for undisclosed terms. Viacore is a well-funded company that offers software and services for supply chain Web sites. Viacore counts an estimated $15 million in yearly sales and about 30 workers. The company landed more than $40 million in venture funding back in 2001 from Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Intel Corp. Santa Ana-based Powerwave Technologies Inc. said it plans to sell its Philippines manufacturing operations to Toronto-based Celestica Inc. for $19 million. Celestica is set to take on 600 workers at the plant.
Lower Medicare payments dinged Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc. as the home healthcare provider said its fourth-quarter profit fell 28%. For the fourth quarter, Apria said net income was $19.5 million. Sales were down 4.4% to $359.7 million. Cuts in federal reimbursement on Apria’s breathing medications and equipment for patients in their homes drove down profits. The company said it expected 2006 profits to be ahead of what analysts had expected Sybron Dental Specialties Inc., a Newport Beach-based maker of dental products, reported earnings of $14.5 million in the December quarter, down 3.4% from a year earlier. Sales were up 6% to $158 million. The company said profits were affected by a $2.1 million charge related to acquisitions and unfavorable currency exchange rates that cut profits by $2.8 million. Sybron also said that the quarter included $1.2 million in stock compensation charges.
Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. said it closed its $10 million buy of Sugar Land, Texas-based Access Lending Corp., which provides loans to mortgage bankers.
Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport in January fell 1% to 704,106, versus a year earlier. Total takeoffs and landings rose 7.6% to 28,577 flights in the period.
Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. said it plans to buy Los Angeles-based eyeglasses maker Oliver Peoples Inc. for $55.7 million in cash and debt. Oakley also said it plans to stop making most of its lines of shoes, including men’s sneakers, because of low profits. Meanwhile, Oakley said its fourth-quarter sales grew 6.2% to $162.4 million, versus a year earlier. Operating profit fell 7.8% to $9.2 million Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. named Nick Adcock as president of its DC Shoes unit. Adcock, who reports to Quiksilver President Bernard Mariette, replaces DC Shoes cofounder Ken Block, who now is chief brand officer of the unit Foothill Ranch-based Kaiser Aluminum Corp. said federal Bankruptcy Court approved its bankruptcy reorganization plan. The company now awaits approval from federal District Court before its reorganization is final Columbus, Ohio-based Bob Evans Farms Inc. said its Tustin-based Mimi’s Cafe unit posted a 2.2% gain in same-restaurant sales in January. Companywide same-restaurant sales were up 4.1%.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Down: Housing affordability in Orange County in December, with 10% of residents earning more than the $171,000 required to buy a median-priced home of $702,290, according to the California Association of Realtors. The affordability rate was 13% a year ago.
