’Tis the Season for Giving

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It’s the holiday season, and I’m in a giving mood. Here are some presents I’d like to give.

To the directors of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.: a big barrel of glue dissolver. That’s because for much of 2010 they were the butt of the old I’m-rubber-and-you’re-glue joke. The more the directors called Carl Icahn such names as “abusive” and “visionless,” the more those words bounced of Icahn and stuck to them.

To Al Mann of MannKind: Food and Drug Administration approval of Afrezza, already.

To Robert Eckert of Mattel Corp.: the services of Henry Kissinger. Maybe he could do a little shuttle diplomacy with Isaac Larian of MGA Entertainment.

To the chiefs of J2 Global Communications: a simple, straightforward response to the oft-made exclamation, “Really? You sell fax services?”

To the execs and shareholders of Occidental Petroleum: a whipsaw. Oxy has been downscaling its foreign operations somewhat, partly because of political instability, and has been beefing up in the United States, where it faces political hostility.

To shareholders of KB Home: a year like 2005, when the stock was actually going up (hard to remember, huh?) and the price was five or six times what it is now.

To state lawmakers in Sacramento: a fact-finding safari to a place that to them is foreign and odd, Texas. That state has devised some business-friendly policies that – hear this, senators – actually worked. Its newest proposal – a “loser pays” rule that would make plaintiffs pick up the legal costs of their targets if they lose their lawsuits – could dramatically clean up the courts and attract even more business and jobs.

To Dodgers fans: a new team owner who’s wealthy, wise and benevolent. And in a solid marriage.

To Ed Roski and John Semcken: an MP3 of the Steam classic “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.” Thanks to the interesting new notion of putting a National Football League stadium in downtown Los Angeles, Roski and Semcken’s old effort to build a stadium in the distant City of Industry seems, well, can we just kiss it goodbye?

To Clippers fans: season tickets to the Lakers.

To Robert Stein of Gambol Industries: a copy of “Alice in Wonderland.” His commonsense voyage to put a shipyard in the Port of Los Angeles despite weird bureaucratic resistance just kept getting curiouser and curiouser.

To stockholders and top execs of American Apparel: a new year. The company’s stock lost close to half its value in 2010, worst among sizable companies ($100 million or more in market cap) on the LABJ Stock Index.

To stockholders of BNK Petroleum of Camarillo, Ixia of Calabasas, Power-One of Camarillo, Motorcar Parts of America of Torrance and

DineEquity of Glendale: a repeat of 2010. Stocks in those companies well more than doubled for the year, making them among the top gainers on the LABJ Stock Index.

To the Business Journal’s readers: our gratitude along with our sincere wishes for a prosperous 2011.

Charles Crumpley is editor of the Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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