Landing a half-billion-dollar, low-interest federal loan to make plug-in hybrid cars is a coup for tiny Irvine-based Fisker Automotive, its celebrated CEO/designer Henrik Fisker and its big Silicon Valley backer, VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Fisker says its vehicles will create and save thousands of domestic jobs. Most of the loan is intended to go toward the planned 2012 launch of the $40,000-priced, USA-made Nina. But the windfall is bringing critics, too: The first $169 million will be spent on the Karma, a $90,000 luxury sports model to be made in Finland. The Wall Street Journal pointed out Kleiner Perkins’ political clout: Its employees have made more than $2 million in campaign donations, mostly to President Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Demo-crats, and one of the firm’s partners is former Vice President Al Gore, who has ordered a Karma …
The apparent suicides of financier Danny Pang and socialite Debbie Simon have had business and social circles buzzing. Although unrelated, the deaths earlier this month occurred only two days and one mile apart in exclusive Newport Harbor communities.
The controversial Pang (Irvine-based PEMGroup) had been accused of operating a massive fraud. The vivacious Simon had been locked in a vitriolic and costly divorce-settlement battle that was claiming her showcase Harbor Island mansion. The 18,000-square-foot home is on the market for $32.6 million …
Pimco’s Bill Gross, who recently paid $26 million for a 12,000-square-foot “tear down,” joins Donald Bren and George Argyros among Harbor Island’s 30 homeowners. The Insider wonders whether there is another community in the U.S. that can claim 10% of its residents are billionaires …
“Remember, spend lots of money here, because we need your cash!”—Gov. Arnold, making a tourism pitch in a promotional video for Carnegie Hall’s China festival, Oct. 11 to Nov. 24 at the OC Performing Arts Center and other local venues. Presented by the Philharmonic Society of OC and underwritten by South Coast Plaza, it is Carnegie Hall’s first live festival outside of NYC …
“A gym, fun events, 100% benefits, massages—it sounds like retirement to me!”—Blytheco CEO Stephen Blythe, commenting on the finalists for the OCBJ’s inaugural “Best Places to Work” awards. The luncheon event at the Hyatt Regency Irvine drew 375 (see the special report insert) …
Brian Fischbein’s 37-employee tech consulting firm, Crescent Solutions in Irvine, is one of the five national finalists for Entrepreneur magazine’s 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award …
Books for the times: After releasing “The Richest Kids in America” earlier this year, Newport Beach’s Mark Victor Hansen of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” fame is back with “Cash in a Flash: Fast Money in Slow Times” (Harmony Books/Random House, co-authored by Bob Allen). UCI prof Peter Navarro’s latest is “Always a Winner: Finding Your Competitive Advantage in an Up and Down Economy” (John Wiley & Sons).
