The Insider hears that Broadcom’s acquisition strategy is making some investors happy

Last week’s $172.7 million offer by an obscure Irvine dot-com for the controlling stake in LA-based Herbalife (see page 12) was surprising; the offer’s quick rejection by the Mark Hughes Family Trust was less so. The Insider hears that several more-established entities are interested in acquiring the shares Among those who have made out on Broadcom are a group headed by Irvine VCer Tom Gephart,not for investing in Broadcom, but for seeding one of Broadcom’s recent acquisitions. Gephart said his Ventana Global had a sizeable stake in Innovent System of El Segundo, a privately held designer of wireless communication chips that Broadcom bought for $457 million in stock July 19. “Only in America,” said Gephart of a company fetching that high a price on technology alone Another Ueberroth is making a name in sports. Heidi Ueberroth, 35, daughter of Newport Beach investor and former baseball commissioner Peter, is the top media and sponsorship sales exec with the National Basketball Association He plays electric bass and acoustic guitar, too: Besides being a biz prof at UCI (and an OCBJ contributor, see this week’s Viewpoint, page 51), Dennis Aigner is now acting dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara. Oh, and the busy Dennis is mending a broken wrist, suffered when he jumped out of the way of a runaway bus while he and wife Camille Bertolet were sightseeing in Maastricht, Holland Jim Riordan, of Seven Locks Press in Santa Ana, likes to network. His recent “Book Bash” in Newport Bay aboard the Wild Goose (John Wayne’s former yacht) featured celebrity lookalikes and media types, as well as Jacki Stallone, actor Billy Barty, psychic Kenny Kingston and former NFL star Todd Christensen. “Pretend it’s Noah’s Ark and there’s one of everything,” Riordan said Economic forecast: One of the Insider’s best economic barometers, Russ Hosier of ball-bearing distributor Motion Industries, sees slowing ahead: “We’re at the pinnacle right now. From here there will be a gradual decline that will really be felt sometime next year.” By the way, longtime OCer Hosier has been promoted from regional manager to GM/vice president West. He’s moving to San Leandro in the Bay Area, but will continue to have responsibility for Motion’s operations in Garden Grove, as well as for planned offices in Irvine and north OC.