Everyone likes a good comeback story. This issue features a few of those, including Chipotle’s turnaround under CEO Brian Niccol (see story, this page), and the revitalization plans for the L.A. Times’ old OC hub in Costa Mesa (see story, page 1).
Our front-page profile of Newport Beach super-agent Leigh Steinberg would make a great script for a comeback-themed movie, but it’s already been done—the famous “Jerry Maguire” movie that starred Tom Cruise. When Steinberg started his talk with the Insider last week, he spoke fondly of his “falling in love” with the Super Bowl-bound Rams while attending games with his father in the 1950s, when they played in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He later headed the “Save the Rams” group in the mid-1990s, before their 20-year hiatus in St. Louis.
Needless to say, the return home to the Coliseum in ’16—another comeback—was welcome news to Steinberg, although he said he won’t be sad to see the team decamp from the 96-year-old stadium to a new $5 billion spot in Inglewood in 2020, where they will join the Chargers. “It’s going to be an amazing facility,” he said.
A comeback of a different sort in Newport Beach. PIMCO is welcoming back bond royalty—no, not that one—Bill Thompson, who was chief executive at OC’s top financial firm from 1993 to 2009.
Thompson oversaw the explosive growth of the firm, which climbed from $40 billion in assets and 125 employees in 1993 to $840 billion and more than 1,000 employees by the time he retired in 2009. It now oversees $1.66 trillion in assets.
Thompson will serve as chairman emeritus, advising CEO Manny Roman, Group CIO Dan Ivascyn and members of the firm’s global leadership team.
For more on PIMCO, keep an eye on next week’s edition, featuring Peter J. Brennan’s profile on Jerome Schneider, who oversees $300 billion in short-term bonds for the firm.
Kudos to Sophie and Larry Cripe, and James, Kimberly, Haley and Kolby Jacobs, honorary producers of the “Sweeney Todd” production now underway at South Coast Repertory.
The Insider attended opening night of the production, followed by an after-show event with the cast, sponsors, “close shave” drinks and an assortment of meat pies.
The verdict? Maybe the best SCR show since 2015’s “Tristan & Yseult” (also supported by the Cripes), and definitely the best meat pies in OC.
Coming soon to SCR: “Come from Away,” which tells the tale of 30-plus planes stranded in a small Newfoundland town in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks. Among the nearly 7,000 travelers affected was ex-PacLife EVP Mary Ann Brown, notes the Original Insider and husband of Mary Ann, Rick Reiff.
