Business Briefs: Home Depot Inc., 20th Century Fox, Nara Bancorp, Activision

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Home Depot Inc.

received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles seeking documents in an investigation of the company’s handling, storage and disposal of hazardous waste, the company disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Friday.


California state and local government authorities are also investigating the world’s largest home improvement chain, which is based in Atlanta, Ga.


In its statement, Home Depot said that it is cooperating with the investigations, and that it does not expect them to have a material adverse effect on the company’s operating results or financial condition.



20th Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC

said it would use the Blu-Ray Disc format technology for its future DVD releases, the latest entertainment company to take a side in a battle over what format will be used for DVD burning.


The L.A-based subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox will start releasing titles from Fox’s massive library of film and television shows that include the X-Men movies and The Simpsons when Blu-Ray DVD players hit U.S. markets in late 2005 or early 2006.


The competing format, HD DVD, has the backing of about half the film industry, including Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Brothers Entertainment and less support among technology companies. The Blu-Ray format developed by Sony Corp. is backed by studios including Walt Disney Co. and technology companies including Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc., Philips Electronics and others.


Both groups claim the technology they support is superior in fidelity and memory capacity.



Nara Bancorp

hired Alvin Kang as chief financial officer, replacing Christine Oh, the interim chief financial officer who was installed following a management shake up in March, the company announced Friday.


The board of directors of the company, the parent of Los Angeles-based Nara Bank, had reassigned its former chief financial officer Timothy Chang to duties not related to financial reporting.


Nara, with assets of $1 billion, narrowly avoided being delisted from the Nasdaq Composite Index in May after missing a deadline to file amended financial statements. Nara had to restate earnings from 2002 because it said it had improperly accounted for $600,000 in country club and car expenses given to its former chief executive, Benjamin Hong.



Activision Inc.

said Friday it signed a licensing deal extending it rights to develop video games out of Marvel Enterprises Inc. comic characters.


The deal will give the Santa Monica-based video game publisher exclusive rights to develop PC and console games using an “ensemble cast” of characters from Marvels comic library, which includes Spider Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. The first game is expected to be released in 2007.

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