ECONOMY
Personal finance website WalletHub found that Irvine has the workforce with the highest percentage of college-educated workers among the 150 most populous U.S. cities: 66%, almost six times higher than the lowest percentage: 12% in San Bernardino.
FINANCE
Bond fund manager Bill Gross plans to donate $2 million to the PIMCO Foundation after he sold a portion of his Swiss stamp collection. He said he hopes to raise $200 million for several charities and that he’ll continue to support the foundation, which started in 2000, because he believes in its efforts to improve lives at a community level around the world. The foundation is named after Newport Beach-based fund management group Pacific Investment Management Co., the company Gross co-founded in 1973.
HEALTHCARE
Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian received a $7 million gift from Orange County philanthropists George and Julia Argyros to support its nursing program. The Argyroses have cumulatively given $10 million to the hospital for expanding nursing scholarships, making them the largest donors to the program in Hoag’s history, the hospital said in a news release. Hoag also unveiled a Julia Argyros Center for Nursing Excellence seal to be displayed throughout its campuses.
MEDIA
Orange County Register Managing Editor Donna Wares left the paper last week to serve as editorial director for a yet-to-launch online travel enterprise, according to the daily newspaper.
Alan Gibbons will take over as editor-in-chief of Orange Coast Magazine on May 16, succeeding Martin Smith, who’s been the top editor since 2007 and is stepping down to move to Colorado. The longtime Orange County resident joined the magazine 18 months ago. She previously was a lifestyle editor and a sports editor at the Orange County Register.
REAL ESTATE
Aliso Viejo-based FivePoint Communities Inc. completed a reorganization giving it ownership of four of California’s largest master-planned communities. The developer, which oversees residential and commercial development on the former El Toro Marine base, said it finalized a long-awaited plan to combine ownership of Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine with three others under an entity called FivePoint Holdings Inc. Its other three communities include Newhall Ranch in L.A. County and Candlestick Point and the Shipyard in San Francisco. It will continue to be led by Chief Executive Emile Haddad (see related story, page 3).
SERVICES
Santa Ana-based commercial security and janitorial services company Universal Services of America will merge on undisclosed terms with AlliedBarton Security Services in Conshohocken, Pa. to create a company called AlliedUniversal. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Universal Services Chief Executive Steve Jones will serve as chief executive of the combined company, and Bill Whitmore, AlliedBarton chief executive, will be board chairman. It was unclear where the combined company’s operating headquarters will be.
TECHNOLOGY
Aliso Viejo-based 360fly Inc. raised $40 million in a Series C financing round to boost global sales and marketing efforts for its breakthrough 360-degree 4K camera to be released this month. The investment was led by Greenwich, Conn.-based private equity firm L Catterton and existing investor Qualcomm Ventures, the VC arm of chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. in San Diego. Hydra Ventures, the VC arm of adidas Group in Germany, joined the round as a new investor.
TRANSPORTATION
A newly released transportation report shows Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County is in need of traffic flow and safety improvements due to congestion and the mix of cars, cyclists and pedestrians. The $400,000 study that resulted in the report was conducted by the Orange County Transportation Authority and the state transportation department. Cities along the 37-mile section of the highway requested it to generate ideas to improve traffic flow and safety.
