Malibu toy maker JAKKS Pacific Inc. and Nickelodeon have signed a long-term alliance to develop crafts, activity toys and stationery based on the programmers’ characters and brands.
Terms were not disclosed, but the agreement is expected to run through 2003, expanding a previous deal between the two companies and covering virtually all properties from the Burbank cable station’s current and future programming.
The licensing agreement involves JAKKS’ Flying Colors division and covers a dozen Nickelodeon properties including Rugrats, Blue’s Clues, SpongeBob SquarePants, Rocket Power and the Nickelodeon brand.
Another product developed by the two companies is a slime-like play substance called Goooze, which was the No. 2 seller among all toys in the United States in the second half of last year.
JAKKS’ Nickelodeon deal follows a 10-year pact to develop action figures and video games for the World Wrestling Federation.
Besides product development, the alliance also involves JAKKS working with Nickelodeon on advertising, magazine, movies, television and online ventures aimed at promoting the brands. JAKKS also develops video games for Nickelodeon in partnership with Calabasas-based THQ Inc.
Disney Lowers Park Prices
Walt Disney Co. has taken the unprecedented step of offering free admission at its new California Adventure theme park all summer long for children who are accompanied by an adult.
Adult ticket prices regularly $43 will also be reduced $10 for the summer as Disney moves to stay competitive with other theme parks that have lowered prices in response to languid admissions. The offer is unusual for Disney, which has traditionally given modest discounts only in the off-season and usually leads the industry in raising ticket prices.
Disney officials said the offer is aimed at encouraging Southern Californians to visit the park at a discount and is not a reaction to disappointing ticket sales. Since the $1.4-billion park opened next to Disneyland in February, attendance has been well below projections.
Strong Results for KB Home
Demonstrating the strength of home-building despite the national economic slowdown, Westwood-based KB Home announced a 43 percent gain in net income in better-than-expected second-quarter earnings.
The nation’s largest homebuilder benefited from low interest rates and high demand for entry-level housing, KB Home’s primary niche.
Construction of new single-family residences in six Southern California counties is up 13 percent over the same period last year, with the highest activity in Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire.
KB Home officials predicted a demand for about 250,000 housing units a year during the next decade, creating a gap of about 1 million homes.
The company upped its earnings estimates for 2001 to between $5.10 and $5.20 per share. KB Home’s net income for the three months ended May 31 rose to $39.5 million, ($1.07 per diluted share), from $27.7 million, (68 cents a share) in the like year-earlier quarter.
More Changes at DirecTV
A month after the surprise resignation of its chief executive, another top-level manager is leaving El Segundo satellite TV company DirecTV.
Parent Hughes Electronics Corp. said president and chief operating officer Odie McDonald resigned and will be replaced by chief financial officer Roxanne Austin.
In June, Hughes warned Wall Street that it would add only 175,000 subscribers this quarter, well below the 350,000 promised. That is half as many as DirecTV’s smaller rival, EchoStar Communications Corp.
In May, Michael Smith resigned as chairman and chief executive of Hughes after opposing the proposed sale of the General Motors Corp. company to News Corp.
New MTA Chief
A 36-year veteran of the transit business has been named the new chief of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and will receive a salary of $295,000 per year, making him the top paid department head in the county.
MTA directors said Roger Snoble the top executive of the Dallas transit agency, has been their number one choice for the post since Julian Burke announced his resignation.
Snoble will oversee an agency with a $2.7-billion annual budget and 9,000 employees. Before working in Dallas, he spent 20 years at San Diego Transit, heading the agency from 1979 to 1993.
The hiring of the Dallas executive before Mayor-elect James Hahn took office denied Hahn a role in choosing the MTA chief. As mayor, Hahn, has a seat on the MTA board and controls three other appointments.
Fugitive Investor Fined for Fraud
A fugitive charged with securities fraud after he posed as an analyst to boost the share price of San Pedro-based tech company EConnect has been ordered by a judge to repay $1.2 million.
Stephen Sayre, 44, a tree trimmer by trade, allegedly earned $1.4 million after he recommended others purchase the stock in four reports released under the name of Independent Financial Reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the reports, which were distributed in news releases on Business Wire, misled investors because Sayre falsely claimed he didn’t own any EConnect stock.
EConnect, which lost $114.7 million last year, now trades at 7 cents a share.
Sayre disappeared after a warrant was issued for his arrest in April 2000 on related securities fraud charges.
Baldwin Hills Power Plant Nixed
In a victory for community groups and environmentalists, an energy company has withdrawn its application to get fast-track approval for a power plant in Baldwin Hills.
La Jolla Energy Development Inc. wanted to build the 53-megawatt plant on the site of a proposed state park in Baldwin Hills. The plant was attacked by groups that said it would pollute neighborhoods and threaten the plan to combine 1,200 acres of open space into a large park.
La Jolla officials said they withdrew the application because of community opposition and would not pursue a plant on that location in the future.
The project was to be a joint venture between La Jolla and Stocker Resources, an oil company that leases the land where the small natural gas plant would sit.
Earlier this month, the South Coast Air Quality Management District said it would have to conduct hearings on the plant, which would have threatened fast-track approval under the state’s emergency power orders.
Burke Declares Bankruptcy
Burdened by growing debt and declining sales, Santa Fe Springs rubber products maker Burke Industries Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The company has liabilities of about $166 million compared with assets of about $100 million, according to company officials.
Burke, which makes rubber safety flooring, automobile seals and other rubber products, has suffered under a national slowdown in commercial construction. Rising costs for raw materials, energy and workers’ compensation have also taken a toll.
Burke was purchased by New York investment firm J.F. Lehman & Co. in 1997. It has 1,000 employees, about 750 in California.
The company told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it must restate its financials for both 1999 and 2000 because of problems accounting for inventory.
Universal Buys Latin Label
Subject to the approval of a New York judge, Universal Music Group will purchase the assets Latin and Tropical label RMM Records.
Terms were not disclosed, but the deal was approved as part of a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy sale. Universal, which has made a large push into Latin music in recent years, said the deal brings it more than 400 master recordings by more than 130 artists, including Tito Puente and Celia Cruz.
All Spanish-language albums previously recorded by Marc Anthony also will revert to Universal Music after the current pact expires, officials said
Venice Apartment Deal
A Colorado company has purchased a half interest in the 795-unit Lincoln Place Apartments in Venice, a complex that has been the site of protests by residents who fear they will lose their low-income housing if the owner proceeds with upgrades.
Denver-based REIT Apartment Investment & Management Co. paid $57.5 million for its 50 percent share from owner TransAction Financial Corp.
Residents of the 52 two-story apartment buildings tried to block the planned upgrades last year by asking the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission to designate the 40-acre complex east of Lincoln Boulevard between Lake Street and Palms Boulevard a historic monument. The commission voted 4 to 1 against the request.
The property owner wanted to raze the apartments and rebuild, but those plans have since been set aside in favor of the remodeling project.
Water for Newhall Ranch
Asserting that its plan for the largest housing development in county history would have an ample water supply, Newhall Land & Farming Co. has returned to the L.A. Regional Planning Commission seeking another approval for its 21,600-home Newhall Ranch.
The project had received approval from the County Board of Supervisors before it was blocked a year ago by a judge who demanded more proof that there is enough water to support the new community in the Santa Clarita Valley, especially during dry years.
After an eight-month analysis, Newhall Land promised to buy and store enough water to meet nearly twice the expected demand of 70,000 residents.
The massive new suburb is planned for the banks of the Santa Clara River just east of Ventura County. It and has drawn stiff opposition from Ventura officials, who say it could dry up the region’s citrus groves.
The hearing will resume July 16 to allow more public testimony. If the revised environmental plans are approved by the Planning Commission, they will head back to the Board of Supervisors for more hearings and a vote, and then to the judge who ordered them for the additional review.
14 Angelenos Among Richest
Home-building magnate Eli Broad led a group of 14 Los Angeles residents on Forbes Magazine’s list of the 500 richest individuals in the world.
Broad, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $5.8 billion, came in at number 53 on the list, which was headed by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates, whose personal fortune was estimated at $58 billion.
Other Angelenos on the list included well-known figures such as Marvin Davis ($4.5 billion), David Geffen ($3.4 billion) and Steven Spielberg ($2.1 billion), and lesser known billionaires Bradley Wayne Hughes ($1.3 billion), the owner of Public Storage Inc., investor David Howard Murdoch ($1.1 billion) and leasing mogul Steven Ferencz Udvar-Hazy ($2.8 billion).
L.A. Must Pay Ex-Worker
A federal jury has ordered the city of Los Angeles to pay $3.6 million to a former employee who was fired after testifying against the city in a police overtime case.
The jury also found Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and Cmdr. Daniel Watson, the department’s ombudsman, personally liable for $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, in punitive damages.
Theresa Schell, 48, who worked for the city for 29 years, contended that the department retaliated against her for her role in a lawsuit that the city settled for $40 million. She was fired by the LAPD in December after a department investigation into whether she had improperly accessed confidential documents.
Schell testified in a class-action case in which hundreds of officers argued that the department improperly delayed paying them overtime stemming from their work in the city’s 1992 riots.
City officials said they are considering an appeal.
City Criticizes LAFCO Study
Angering secessionists, the Los Angeles City Council approved a report that determined that municipal breakup would financially harm a new San Fernando Valley city and the remainder of Los Angeles.
The 925-page report seeks a revision of a previous report by the Local Agency Formation Commission, which must decide whether to put the independent cityhood issue on the November 2002 budget.
City officials said the LAFCO study, along with proposals by Valley VOTE, the main secession group, includes assumptions that are not legal, namely that LAFCO has power to set water and electric rates or to force the reorganization of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to share control with the Valley.
Secession advocates countered that the move demonstrated a clear bias against separate cityhood.
Shea Re-Elected at DGA
The Directors Guild of America has re-elected Jack Shea to serve a third term as president.
Shea, who directed such television shows as “Sanford and Son,” “The Jeffersons” and “Hawaii 5-0,” has served on the DGA National Board for 39 years, including three terms as vice president.
Shea said the DGA’s highest priority is negotiating new contracts with the studios before the guild’s contract expires next year. He has also vowed to fight for more representation by women and minorities in the DGA.
