EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. and Intel Corp. settled two long-running patent suits. Broadcom will pay Intel $60 million, with both chipmakers agreeing to cross license their technology. Meanwhile, Broadcom won a deal to supply Handspring Inc. chips that run its Treo 600 “smart” phones, which have Web browser and digital camera options … Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. raised its bid for the 20% of Ribapharm Inc. it doesn’t own to $6.25 per share, 11.6% higher than its prior bid. Investors have until Aug. 19 to offer their Ribapharm shares.
TECHNOLOGY
Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. said its former chief financial officer, Balakrishnan Iyer, will get up to $926,000 for a year’s work. Iyer’s salary is $338,000, but Conexant said it had to nearly triple his compensation to get him to stay for an extra year and help the chipmaker spin off two of its units, Mindspeed Technologies and Jazz Semiconductor. Iyer, who stepped down in June, said late last year that he was leaving the company. He now is an adviser to Mindspeed … Irvine-based Exult Inc. won a five-year deal to provide human resources services and software to San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. … Taiwan’s Test Rite International Co. has taken control of Santa Ana-based CenDyne Inc. amid sluggish sales at the DVD drive and CD burner seller. CenDyne’s three cofounders have left the company, which is 42%-owned by Test Rite … Santa Ana-based Powerwave Technologies Inc., which recently cut half its 1,200 workers, said Nortel Networks Corp. accounted for 57% of its sales in the first half of the year, up from 42% a year ago … Aliso Viejo-based Smith Micro Software Inc. signed a wireless software pact with Verizon Communications Inc. Shares of Smith Micro rose 37% to 4.13 on the news … Garden Grove-based Bridge Technology Inc. was delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Allergan Inc. said the Federal Trade Commission is investigating the drug maker for unfair trade practices related to its drops to treat eye inflammation. Allergan said it’s cooperating with the probe … San Clemente-based BioLase Technology Inc. said it postponed 12 investor meetings while it waits for an OK from the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 2.5 million new shares. Meanwhile, the dental laser maker said its past sales and earnings results could be lower than previously reported if the company changes its sales accounting to reflect when customers pay BioLase. The company has asked regulators for guidance on the accounting issue … A Food and Drug Administration panel backed Irvine-based Micro Therapeutics Inc.’s Onyx device to treat tangled brain arteries and veins … Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. said its chief executive officer, Amin I. Khalifa, has left the device maker to “pursue other opportunities.”
REAL ESTATE
Santa Ana-based title insurer First American Corp. filed to sell 500,000 shares. Proceeds from the offering will be used for general corporate purposes … Leisure World’s master association voted to put off a decision on closing its Laguna Woods equestrian center and selling the land for home development. A Leisure World committee will study the sale plan further.
GOVERNMENT
The city of Huntington Beach said it wouldn’t challenge a court ruling forcing it to return $27 million collected from a special property tax that violates Prop. 13. At least 15,000 homeowners are set to receive refunds. Standard & Poor’s rating service has put the city on credit watch … Orange County Supervisors voted 3-2 against holding an Oct. 7 advisory election on whether to go forward with the $1 billion CenterLine light-rail project.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Attendance this year at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa fell 2% to 881,596, versus a year ago. Admission revenue dropped 11% to $3.3 million despite four extra days in the fair’s run, with the reopened Pacific Amphitheatre posting a $1 million loss … Boeing Co. postponed the launch of its Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral after finding a problem with an antenna. The rocket, developed at its Huntington Beach-based Delta IV operations, was set to carry a defense satellite to space. Meanwhile, the company said it could pull out of the rocket launch business entirely, unless it regains the right to bid on military contracts this year. Boeing lost seven launches from the Air Force this year as punishment for obtaining trade secrets from rival Lockheed Martin Corp. … Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. won a pact to develop Ford Island in Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor with El Paso, Texas-based Hunt Building Co. The project is worth $180 million and is set to begin next year … Shares of Australia’s Barbecues Galore Ltd., which has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, jumped 26% to 3.85 after a regulatory filing showed that legendary investor Peter Lynch owned 5.8% of the company … Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. said its July same-store sales rose 15.1%, with total sales up 24% to $83.7 million. The company also set a 3-for-2 stock split for Sept. 5 … Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said its same-store sales fell 12.3% in July. The struggling teen retailer said it was seeing “improvement” in the past four months … The KOCE-TV Foundation Board of Directors said it will submit a joint bid with Los Angeles’ KCET-TV for KOCE, the county’s public TV station, which is owned by the Coast Community College District. A bid by San Diego State University’s KPBS-TV was dropped … Newport Beach-based Spectrum Restaurant Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection. The owner of a dozen eateries said it has $10 million in debt but plans to continue operating through the bankruptcy … Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp., a unit of Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! Brands Inc., will pay former workers $1.5 million to settle a six-year-old suit alleging overtime violations.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: The outlook for Southern California’s economy, with Cal-ifornia State University, Fullerton’s leading economic indicator rising 0.6% in the second quarter to 114.5, versus the first quarter.
