Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
DISTRIBUTION
Cleaning products distributor Global NuTech Inc. will change its name to Texas Gulf Energy Inc. and move from Huntington Beach to the Houston area. The relocation follows its November purchase of energy-industry construction management company International Plant Services of LaPorte, Texas.
GOVERNMENT
Westminster proposed new planning guidelines aimed at bringing architectural conformity to its part of the Little Saigon district. The planning commission last week held a public hearing on proposals, which include ideas for a new plaza near Asian Garden Mall, additional walkways and a parking structure.
Anaheim-based Bridgford Foods Corp. was fined $597,100 by the U.S. Labor Department for safety and health violations at plants in Dallas. Violations included a lack of machinery guards and inadequate training about energy-control procedures.
HEALTHCARE
Orange-based St. Joseph Health System said medical records of more than 21,000 patients at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, as well as Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach and Mission Viejo, might have been made available via Internet search engines. The security breach, which also affected patient files at three other California hospitals, was discovered after a patient’s attorney alerted St. Joseph. Hospital executives attributed the problem to faulty security settings on computers at the hospitals.
MEDIA
Irvine-based automobile information provider Kelley Blue Book Co. Inc. named Jared Rowe president. He arrives from parent company AutoTrader.com Inc. in Atlanta, where he was most recently vice president of product management. Rowe replaces Paul Johnson, a 13-year company veteran who recently resigned. Cox Enterprises Inc., also headquartered in Atlanta, is a majority owner of AutoTrader.com. Johnson led the company after it was purchased by AutoTrader.com in October 2010 and is credited with helping Kelley during its transition from a print-based business to digital format.
Irvine-based digital media agency Specific Media LLC added more than 1 million new users to its Myspace social networking site since Jan. 1, according to Reston, Va.-based online researcher comScore Inc. Myspace saw a 4% monthly increase in January to more than 25 million users, boosted by the recent launch of its Myspace Music Player.
REAL ESTATE
Newport Beach-based developer Irvine Company opened the 1,677-unit Village of Cypress apartment complex in Irvine. Rentals start at $1,478 at the complex, situated at Jeffrey Road and Trabuco Road near the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway.
RETAIL
The parent of Irvine-based Billabong USA is selling almost half its Nixon accessories business to a private equity firm as part of a series of moves to reduce the company’s debt and other expenses. Encinitas-based Nixon sells watches, wallets, purses and other accessories. The deal values Nixon at about $464 million. New York-based Trilantic Capital Management LLC and Australia-based Billabong International Ltd. each will hold a 48.5% stake in Nixon, with the balance of equity going to management.
Matthews, N.C.-based discount retailer Family Dollar opened its first Orange County stores with 8,000-square-foot locations in Orange and La Habra. The chain previously opened stores in Ontario, Riverside, Fontana and Rialto.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Joseph Co. International has developed a self-chilling can technology based on a carbon-dioxide absorbent system. Chilling begins by pressing a button on the can. The company recently launched a separate company—West Coast Chill—to market an energy drink packaged with the cans and also license the technology to other beverage companies (see related story on Fullerton lease, page 1).
OTHER NEWS
John Charles, a veteran administrator at Crystal Cathedral Ministries, was named interim chief executive of the bankrupt organization, which recently agreed to sell its Garden Grove church and campus to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Orange for $57.5 million. Charles replaces Sheila Schuller Coleman, who will focus on separate duties of senior pastor of the ministries’ church congregation.
Kanoa Igarashi of Huntington Beach won the Boys Under 18 division of the O’Neill Surfing America Prime West Coast competition at Trestles in San Clemente. Jake Davis of Capistrano Beach won the Upper 16 division.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
DOWN: OC’s residential housing market in January, when 1,872 homes were sold, down 3% from the same a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick Information Systems. DataQuick said OC homes sold for a median price of $392,000 in January, down 5.5% less than a year earlier. Home sales throughout Southern California rose 0.4% in January to 14,523 (see related story on Greenlight, page 1).
