THURSDAY
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff have ended an informal investigation into trading in the stock of computer animated film maker
DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.
prior a 2005 earnings release, and recommended that the commission take no enforcement action, the company announced on May 4. The nearly year-long inquiry concerned a potential connection between trading in the Glendale-based company’s securities and the disclosure of first-quarter financial results on May 10, 2005. After the market closed that day, DreamWorks reported lower-than-expected earnings on disappointing DVD sales for “Shrek 2” and “Shark Tale.” DreamWorks earlier had overestimated “Shrek 2” DVD sales by between 3 to 5 million copies. The government reportedly was looking into whether DreamWorks should have been quicker to inform investors that sales were not meeting expectations, and whether employees were aware of the problem prior to the earnings release.
Agoura Hills-based video game maker
THQ Inc.
said it is developing a game, based on “The Sopranos” cable-television drama, that will use some of the stars’ voices and likenesses. James Gandolfini, who plays Tony Soprano on the hit Home Box Office Inc. series, will provide his voice and likeness for the game, as will other actors from the show. Show creator David Chase collaborated on developing the new game’s storyline, in which players try to become “made” members of Tony Soprano’s crime syndicate. The game, designed for the Xbox 360 console from Microsoft Corp. and the PlayStation2 from Sony Corp., is scheduled to be released for the Christmas holiday shopping season.
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Monrovia-based ophthalmic products maker
Staar Surgical Co.
said it has it has received CE Mark approval for its preloaded aspheric silicone intraocular lens. The approval will allow the company to market the IOL for use in cataract surgery in 21 primarily European countries where the CE Mark is accepted. The preloaded IOLs are not yet approved for use in the U.S. The product includes the lens, cartridge and injector body in a single, disposable pre-sterilized unit designed for greater ease, safety and convenience during insertion. The company expects to begin shipments to distributors during the first week of June.
WEDNESDAY
Santa Monica-based
Macerich Co.
, a real estate investment trust that owns stakes in 76 U.S. shopping malls, agreed to purchase 11 department-store sites in Arizona, California and Connecticut for an undisclosed amount from Federated Department Stores Inc. Federated is selling stores it closed after acquiring May Department Stores Co. for $11 billion last year. The sale probably will be completed in July, Macerich said in a statement. Shopping-mall owners have said they planned to take advantage of mergers in the department-store industry by turning poor-performing locations over to more successful retailers.
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El Segundo-based satellite TV service provider
DirecTV Group Inc.
announced a multi-year distribution agreement with West Palm Beach, Fla.-based
ION Media Networks
that maintains nationwide carriage of the “i network” on DirecTV’s programming line-up through the end of 2011. As part of the agreement, the two companies have settled all pending legal disputes. In addition to carrying the i network’s national feed, DirecTV will offer ION’s local TV station feeds in select markets.
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Los Angeles International Airport
announced valet parking service in the Central Terminal Area will begin May 10. The valet parking lot will be located across from Terminal 4 on the Lower/Arrivals Level and will serve Terminal 4 (American Airlines and American Eagle), Terminal 5 (Delta, China Southern and Aeromexico), and the more than 35 airlines in the Tom Bradley International Terminal. The daily rate in the valet lot is $38, which includes the regular $30 daily parking fee charged for Central Terminal Area parking and an $8 daily valet service fee. Vehicles may park in the lot for up to 30 days. To encourage the use of zero- and lower-emission vehicles, airport officials will waive the daily valet service fee for drivers of vehicles displaying a state-issued sticker allowing the use of high-occupancy-vehicle (carpool) lanes. Drivers of such vehicles can park in the valet lot for just the $30 daily parking rate. The valet service is a pilot program that may expand to other terminals.
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Long Beach-based
First Consulting Group Inc.
announced a six-year, $12 million implementation and operating services agreement with Health Alliance Medical Plans, a 256,000-member health plan based in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The company will upgrade and support the QNXT suite of enterprise applications for running the alliance’s core business functions.
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Los Angeles-based
National Lampoon Inc.
has signed a license agreement with a subsidiary of Toronto-based Excapsa Software plc, which develops, maintains and markets real time internet enabled poker software and manages the Excapsa poker network. National Lampoon’s free online poker room will be used by participants at 600 U.S. colleges and universities in the NationalLampoonPoker.com National College Poker Tournament, a nationally televised intercollegiate poker tournament designed to play on the natural rivalry between schools.
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California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi announced that Encino chiropractor Nasrin “Nancy” Hadizadeh Fathi and legal assistant Behrouz Beck Saffary had pled no contest and were found guilty of one count each of insurance fraud. Both defendants, who entered pleas on April 25, were placed on three years probation, ordered to perform 200 hours of community service and ordered to pay $9,416 restitution. They were also sentenced to one day in Los Angeles County Jail with credit for time served. The California Department of Insurance’s Fraud Division began investigating the case in February 2004 after receiving a citizen complaint that Fathi was over-billing insurance companies for chiropractic treatment she never performed.
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The Los Angeles Community Colleges, consisting of nine Los Angeles-area colleges, announced today that it has awarded $47.7 million in construction contracts to four businesses for construction and upgrade projects at two of its colleges with funds from Propositions A/AA. Irvine-based
FTR International Inc.
will provide construction services in the amount of $46 million for the new Allied Health and Sciences Center building project at Los Angeles Valley College. Glendale-based
Delmac Construction & Development Inc.
will provide construction services in the amount of $1.6 million for the campus-wide restrooms project at the same campus. Burbank-based Three
D Traffic Works
will install traffic delineators for traffic diversions at the campus at Los Angeles Mission College for $2,425.
P.G. & J
will provide construction services for the leak repair project for the Learning Assistance Center at a cost of $26,500.
TUESDAY
Burbank-based
Walt Disney Co.
has signed an agreement that will make avail its branded consumer products in Vietnam, one of the largest Asian countries in which its goods have not been available. Nevada-based Eastern Media Holdings Inc. has been given a master licensing agreement for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Eastern Media’s master license includes clothing, footwear, stationery and furniture, and allows the company to commission production from any factory that can meet Disney’s global labor standards.
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Walt Disney Co.
unit Buena Vista International has signed an agreement with MegaStar Joint Venture Co. Ltd. to distribute Disney and Touchstone films in Vietnam. MegaStar, which has offices in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, is a joint venture between Envoy Media Partners and Phuong Nam Corp. The company is currently building an eight-screen movie theater in Vietnam. Among the movies that will be brought to the country through the partnership are “Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean 2.”
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Entertainment industry trade daily Variety, the leading entertainment industry trade and Movies.com, a leading Web site for movie fans, announced a cross-distribution agreement through which select content will be displayed across Daily Variety and Movies.com. Movies.com is introducing a new “Careers in Entertainment” section on the site in association with VarietyCareers. In addition, top items from the Movies.com “Buzz Bin” news section will be featured daily on Variety.com and weekly in the print edition of Daily Variety.
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Two class-action lawsuits on behalf of shareholders have been filed against Camarrillo-based
Vitesse Semiconductor Corp.
, which is in the midst of internal accounting investigation, and its top executives. Suits filed by Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz LLP and Paskowitz & Associates charge that the defendents made material misstatements and omitted information regarding the timing of stock option grants made to key executives, which lead to a dramatic drop in share price when made public. Vitesse stock was trading at $3.69 on March 29, just before the announcement of the internal investigation, administrative leave and accounting inaccuracies. On Tuesday, it closed at $1.89 per share.
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Glendale-based
PS Business Parks Inc.
, a real estate investment trust with holdings in California and seven other U.S. states, declared a quarterly dividend of 29 cents a share and said it plans to repurchase as many as 4.5 million shares of its common stock. The company said it will make the purchases on the open market from time to time or in private transactions. In the quarter ended March 31, the company bought back 225,000 shares of common stock for about $11.7 million.
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Cerritos-based
IMPCO Technologies Inc.
announced the appointment of Douglas R. King as an independent director to its board, filling a board vacancy created by the resignation of Donald Simplot. An accounting industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, King most recently served as the managing partner of the San Francisco office of Ernst & Young LLP. King also serves on the boards of Marvel Technology Group and SJW Corporation.
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Pasadena-based
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
said that a subsidiary company received a contract from the Clarian Health Partners/Arnett Health System partnership to serve as program/project manager for a new 150-bed community-based hospital in Lafayette, Ind. Officials did not disclose the contract value.
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Los Angeles-based
Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.
said it has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., which provides Samsung rights to incorporate VCR Plus+(R) and Gemstar-TV Guide’s Consumer Electronic interactive program guide (IPG) into its portfolio of digital televisions, digital recording devices and VCRs. This agreement renews Samsung’s previous agreement to deploy VCR Plus+(R) worldwide, and modifies Samsung’s existing agreement to deploy Gemstar-TV Guide’s CE IPG in North America. The agreement also extends the relationship between Gemstar-TV Guide and Samsung in Europe.
