Headlines From Tuesday’s Papers

0



State 2nd in Housing Growth, Census Data Say

California had the second-highest increase in the number of housing units of any state last year, adding 181,997 new dwellings, the Census Bureau reported, according to the Los Angeles Times. The data released Monday underscore population shifts as people increasingly move west and to Sunbelt states. Florida had the most new homes built, and Texas was third in the most recent reporting year, from July 2004 to July 2005.


Read the full L.A. Times story

.



YouTube to Sell Advertisements In Video Format


YouTube Inc. is expanding the type of advertisements it sells to include videos on its home page and on special advertiser-created pages, shedding further light on how the hugely popular video-sharing site plans to make money, the Wall Street Journal reports. Warner Music Group Corp.’s Warner Bros. Records will be the first to roll out the special advertiser pages with a video promotion for hotel heiress Paris Hilton’s music album to be released today. In a twist, Fox Broadcasting Co. — a unit of Time Warner competitor News Corp. — will pay to advertise its “Prison Break” TV series on the Paris Hilton advertising page, and YouTube will share that ad revenue with Warner Bros.


Read the full Wall Street Journal story

.(subscription required)



Viacom Gives Paramount Reigns with MTV, Nickelodeon Divisions


It has restructured its film units and upgraded MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies from studio-based production companies to full-fledged divisions under the Paramount Motion Picture Group umbrella. Scott Aversano, a longtime Par exec who came up through Scott Rudin Prods., will serve as prexy of both labels, Variety reports. Both MTV Films and Nick Movies have strong brand recognition with their core auds, but the divisions have struggled to achieve success at the box office. Insiders had criticized the divisions for not having clear strategies under the previous Par regime and for slapping their labels on pics largely for promotional and marketing purposes.


Read the full Variety story

.(subscription required)



Wells Fargo to Buy Southland Investment Bank


Wells Fargo & Co. said Monday it would acquire Barrington Associates, a Brentwood-based investment bank that arranges sales of small and medium-sized businesses , the same type of companies that Wells focuses on, the Los Angeles Times reports. The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal, the latest in a series of buyouts of niche investment banks that handle mergers and acquisitions in the so-called middle market , companies with annual revenue of $25 million to $1 billion.


Read the full L.A. Times story

.



Torrance Big Box, Offices Planned


A New York-based developer plans to build a large office and retail project worth more than $100 million on the largest developable parcel of vacant land in Torrance, the Daily Breeze reports. Rockefeller Group Development Corp. recently bought the land — 23 acres on the south side of Lomita Boulevard west of Crenshaw Boulevard — from Grae Lomita LLC of Los Angeles. Rockefeller wants to build a 155,000-square-foot big-box retail site on the land, which abuts a Costco and the Torrance Crossroads shopping center.


Read the full Daily News story

.



Date Set to Vote on Univision Sale


Univision Communications Inc. has scheduled a special meeting Sept. 27 for shareholders to vote on the proposed $12.3-billion sale of the nation’s dominant Spanish-language broadcaster to a consortium of investors that includes billionaire Haim Saban, the Los Angeles times reports. Los Angeles-based Univision’s bylaws require that 60% of shareholders approve the transaction because two board members voted against the proposed buyout in a board meeting June 26, when the deal was tentatively approved. The two dissident directors represented Venevision of Caracas, Venezuela, the largest shareholder, and Mexico City-based Grupo Televisa, which had led a group of investors that was rebuffed in its bid for Univision.


Read the full L.A. Times story

.

No posts to display