The management team at Emak Worldwide, a group of five agencies based in Los Angeles, has won its appeal against dissident shareholders who wanted to take control of the boardroom.
The dispute dates to September 2009 when a group of angry shareholders led by former Chief Executive Don Kurz filed a lawsuit against nine Emak board members and officers for fraud and breach of duty. In a press release, Kurz accused Emak management of “hubris, self-interest and gross incompetence.”
The group, called Take Back Emak, won a proxy fight for three board seats. But on April 29, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling and declared the proxy invalid. The ruling knocked the three dissident directors off the board. Kurz, however, the leader of the mutiny and owner of 23 percent of the company’s stock, retains his seat.
Kurz resisted the company’s transformation into a group of agencies, and believed that Emak should focus on its former core strength of creating and licensing promotional items such as toys for fast-food chains.
Jim Holbrook, current chief executive of Emak, is glad to have settled the matter, which he always considered a distraction.
“My vision for Emak continues to be a cohesive yet nimble network of marketing agencies,” Holbrook said in a statement. “It’s now time to focus squarely on satisfying our clients and building the businesses.”
Kurz, now a managing member of hedge fund Artemis Capital Partners, said he was disappointed in the court decision and respectfully believes the judges got some facts wrong.
“The board that was seated and unseated accomplished a fair amount and reinforced our belief in the company’s future,” he told the Business Journal. “We will continue to focus on regaining the shareholder value that has been lost the last few years.”
After announcement of the court decision, the stock price of thinly traded Emak remained unchanged at $1 per share.
Hydra Scales Up
Hydra, a digital ad network firm in Beverly Hills, has created a department to monitor online ad campaigns and make quick changes based on real-time results.
Hydra’s campaign management department will oversee campaigns from inception to distribution to gathering the statistics. It will use new proprietary formulas developed by Hydra to monitor and assess campaigns in real time in order to improve performance.
Hydra already drives about 1 million new customers to its advertisers every month, but by combining data from advertisers, publishers and consumer research firms, the company hopes to improve those numbers. Five-year Hydra veteran Michele Andino will lead the new department with the title of director of campaign management.
Back to School
Carl Terzian Associates has been retained by California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The PR agency will conduct its signature professional networking events for fundraising and other outreach on behalf of the private college.
The contract is something of a homecoming. Terzian participated in the founding of Cal Lutheran 50 years ago. In fact, after a few years in the PR business, he once considered a career switch to the Lutheran ministry but instead decided to open a PR agency in 1968. While he served on Cal Lutheran’s board for many years, he didn’t have an affiliation with the university when he got the PR contract.
Agencies & Accounts
Levine Communications Office is the new publicist for a couple featured on “Real Housewives of New York City.” The West Hollywood shop now represents Alex McCord, a star of the Bravo TV series, and her husband, Simon Van Kempen. The couple hired LCO to promote their new book, “Little Kids, Big City: Tales From a Real House in New York City.”… KSL Media, the Encino-based media buying firm, has won the media planning account for energy company ConocoPhillips. The account includes local TV, radio, outdoor and digital media ad buys in 20 U.S. markets. … Matt Stefl is the new senior vice president of planning at West Hollywood ad agency Dailey. He joins Dailey from Fraser Communications in West Los Angeles, where he served as director of strategic planning and research, after stints at RPA, DDB and Rapp Worldwide. … Jake Banks, creative director at Santa Monica production house Stardust, has finished directing the TV spot to launch the 2011 Ford Mustang. The commercial follows a Mustang through city streets accompanied by a rock music soundtrack. … Inter/Media Advertising in Encino has added Candice Yoo to its staff as interactive media designer. She will work on e-commerce sites and interactive campaigns. Yoo, who came to Inter/Media from Gaad Corp. in Torrance, is also a fine artist; one of her works hangs in the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. … Media planner Colin Drummond is joining Ogilvy & Mather’s Culver City office as head of planning from Miami-based Crispin Porter & Bogusky, where he worked as lead strategist for the past six years. Drummond will oversee strategic planning on accounts with Cisco, Arco am/pm and Nature Made.
Staff reporter Joel Russell can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 237.
