Two groups have emerged as bidders for the Univision Communications Inc., the Los Angeles-based Hispanic television network, the Daily News reported. One consists of two of Univision’s largest shareholders and programming suppliers Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa SA and Venezuelan broadcaster Venevision. They teamed up to explore a bid with five private equity firms: Bain Capital Partners LLC; Blackstone Management Associates V LLC; Carlyle Investment Management LLC; Cascade Investment LLC; and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP. A second investor group has been reported to include Los Angeles-based media mogul Haim Saban and private equity firms Madison Dearborn Partners, Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, Providence Equity Partners Inc. and Texas Pacific Group. The bidders so far do no include major media companies such as News Corp., Time Warner Inc. and CBS Corp., which many media analysts expected would bid for the network.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is broadening its investigation into whether public companies timed stock option grants to benefit executives, the Los Angeles Times reported. While much of the recent scrutiny has focused on whether companies backdated options to benefit executives, the agency is also looking at whether companies “spring loaded” options. That involves scheduling grants right before the release of what is expected to be good news that will send shares higher, or delaying grants until after bad news has sent stocks lower.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is seeking a compromise with the California Teachers Association over his effort to gain control over the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Los Angeles Times reported. The bid has bogged down in the Legislature over concerns from fellow Democrats whether mayoral control would really improve the district, which is suffering from a lack of teachers and money for smaller classes. The mayor said he expects a detailed bill on his proposal ready next week. Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, joined him at a capital news conference Monday defending the measure.
Los Angeles International Airport will soon deploy a special crew of baggage handlers to reinforce its federal security screeners and free up dozens more of them for checkpoint duty. The new contract workers will feed checked bags into the giant screening machines in the airport lobbies, a menial job currently handled by the federal screeners. Their arrival next month coincides with the summer rush, when those screeners are most needed at the passenger checkpoints.
Jack Lewin, the longtime leader of the 35,000-member California Medical Association, will step down to become chief executive officer of the American College of Cardiology, Modernhealthcare.com reported. Lewin, who has served as CEO and executive vice president of the nation’s second-largest state doctors’ association for 11 years, will take over as the top executive of the 34,000-member medical society when it relocates in September to new headquarters in downtown Washington.
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