Angelo Mozilo, chairman and chief executive of troubled Calabasas-based lending giant Countrywide Financial Corp., was quick to spread the blame last week for the subprime crisis and resulting credit crunch that has gripped the mortgage industry in recent months.
“It took a village to do this. It wasn’t lenders alone,” Mozilo told hundreds of business executives gathered at the Beverly Hilton Hotel for the Milken Institute’s annual State of the State forum Oct. 29.
“It was borrowers making very bad decisions, because you couldn’t lose,” he said.
Mozilo’s aggrieved tone met with some rolling eyes among the audience, who have read that Mozilo himself was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for making some $145 million in trades of Countrywide stock in the months before the share price collapsed.
Oscar Magic
Lakers superstar Earvin “Magic” Johnson has had a slam-dunk second career in business since retiring from the NBA in 1996.
Through his Beverly Hills-based Magic Johnson Enterprises, the hall of fame point guard has a variety of business interests from a chain of movie theaters to eateries to a travel company, among other ventures.
Another of L.A.’s favorite athletes, boxer Oscar de la Hoya has been making waves in the business world as of late. In September, the boxer’s Los Angeles-based Golden Boy Enterprises LLC acquired The Ring, a well-read boxing magazine. And in August, de la Hoya knocked out the local real estate community with his purchase of the 22-acre Sears warehouse and store redevelopment site in Boyle Heights for over $70 million.
So, what does Magic have to say to the Golden Boy about that purchase?
“A successful investment will create not only money but a halo effect: Desirability and confidence in the marketplace for the next investment Latino or otherwise,” Johnson said via e-mail.
Downtown Awards
Business players gathered downtown at the South Group’s still under construction Luma condo development Oct. 30 for a ceremony that honored the Portland, Ore., company for its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold residential building, Elleven. And no, that’s not a typo.
At the lunchtime event, South Group principals Jim Atkins and Tom Cody handed out awards to an assortment of people who helped make Elleven happen. A group of about a dozen including Lillian Burkenheim of the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles and City Councilwoman Jan Perry received chunks of concrete in lieu of the wood plaques typically handed out at such ceremonies.
Perry had her own idea about the slabs.
“It was probably recycled concrete knowing the developers,” she said.
Staff reporter Howard Fine contributed to this column. Daniel Miller can be reached at [email protected].
