JAN. 15

RAMS RETURN?

St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke buys a vacant 60-acre lot in Inglewood, sparking speculation of a return of the Rams to Los Angeles. Kroenke is a real estate developer and his representatives said there were several options for the site, which sits between the L.A. Forum and Hollywood Park, now in the preliminary stages of mixed-use development. The Inglewood site becomes one of four potential stadium locations: downtown L.A., City of Industry and, as reported by the Business Journal this month, Carson.

FEB. 14

OXY OUT

Occidental Petroleum Corp. announces it is leaving its longtime home in Westwood for Houston, the capital of the domestic oil industry. The company also announced it was spinning off its California operations into a new public company, California Resources Corp. The new company started trading in December.

FEB. 16

BIG POUR

Construction workers pour 82 million pounds of concrete to form the foundation of the new Wilshire Grand tower in downtown Los Angeles, setting a record for the biggest-ever concrete pour. The hotel and office building, being built by Korean Air on Figueroa Street between Seventh Street and Wilshire Boulevard and set to open in 2017, will overtake downtown’s U.S. Bank tower as the tallest building west of Chicago.

MARCH 12

HERBALIFE PROBE

Embattled nutritional supplements company Herbalife Ltd. announces it is being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who since late 2012 has argued Herbalife operates as an illegal pyramid scheme, had repeatedly called for an FTC probe of the company. Later this year, Herbalife executives reportedly say they believe the company will be fined, but not shut down by the feds.

MARCH 24

DISNEY GOES VIRAL

Walt Disney Co. joins the YouTube generation when it announces it has a deal to buy multichannel network Maker Studios for $500 million. With incentives, the deal could be sweetened by another $450 million. Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media swoops in late with an offer of $535 million with another $500 million, but the bid is rejected. The Disney deal also spurs legal action, subsequently dismissed, by former Maker Chief Executive Danny Zappin.

APRIL 16

NEW DAILY – BRIEFLY

The Los Angeles Register, a new daily newspaper published by Orange County Register parent Freedom Communications, hits newsstands in Los Angeles. Just five months later, Freedom scrapped the paper. It was Freedom’s second failed attempt to create a new daily paper: It launched the Long Beach Register in August 2013 then folded it into the Los Angeles Register in June.

MAY 2

ARES IPO

Century City private equity and corporate credit giant Ares Management closed its initial public offering, raising more than $215 million. The deal confirmed Antony Ressler, Ares’ chief executive, as a billionaire. Ressler, who owns a piece of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team, would later be part of a group that unsuccessfully bid for the Los Angeles Clippers.

MAY 28

BIG BEATS

Technology giant Apple Inc. confirms it has purchased Santa Monica headphone maker and music streaming firm Beats Inc. in a $3 billion cash and stock deal – the biggest acquisition in Apple’s 38-year history. The deal, word of which had leaked in early May, makes near-billionaires out of Beats’ co-founders Jimmy Iovine, a music producer, and Compton-raised rapper and producer Andre Young, better known as Dr. Dre.

JUNE 14

BILLIONS BUILDINGS

A Houston real estate trust and JPMorgan pay $1.6 billion for a stake in Century City office park Century Park, valuing the iconic property at nearly $2.5 billion in the priciest real estate sales of the year. The property is home to the twin Century Plaza Towers and a third building, 2000 Avenue of the Stars, better know as the CAA building – or the “Death Star.”

JUNE 18

CHARNEY OUSTED

The board of downtown L.A. manufacturer and retailer American Apparel Inc. boots Dov Charney, the company’s famously eccentric and often embattled chief executive, over allegations of misusing company money and of sexual harassment. Harassment and allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct have dogged Charney for years, going back at least to 2004, when Charney disrobed – and more – in front of a reporter for Jane magazine.

JULY 22

BUYING BANK

Livingston, N.J., lender CIT Group announces its intention to buy Pasadena’s OneWest. If the deal closes next year, the combined bank – which will be based in Pasadena – would have assets of more than $40 billion and become Los Angeles County’s biggest bank. Longtime leader City National Bank, with assets of about $30 billion, would fall to second place.

JULY 23

PUMA ROARS

Shares of Westwood pharmaceutical company Puma Biotechnology quadruple in price in a single day – from $59 to $233 – following good news about clinical trials for the breast cancer drug it’s developing. The price spike instantly makes Puma Chief Executive Alan Auerbach a billionaire.

AUG. 12

BALLMER BUYS

Sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer closes, ending a nearly four-month saga that started with the April release of audio tapes of former owner Donald Sterling making racist comments. Sterling was banned from the National Basketball Association and his wife, Shelly, orchestrated the sale to Ballmer after a judge said she had the right to sell the team, which she jointly owned.

AUG. 26

BILLION WITH A ‘B’

Venice messaging startup Snapchat is reportedly valued at $10 billion – yes, billion – by an investment from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Two months later, an investment from Yahoo reportedly gives Snapchat the same 11-figure valuation. It’s a huge figure for a company that had no revenue until it started selling ads in October, and that suffered several security breaches this year.

SEPT. 1

WAGES RISING?

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, in a Labor Day speech, announces a proposal to raise the minimum wage in the city to $13.25 an hour by 2017, the first in a flurry of wage-hiking actions. City Council members later propose an even higher city-wide wage hike, and the council approves a $15.37 minimum wage for workers at large hotels in the city. Business groups oppose the plans, saying they’ll force employers to cut jobs, and hotel owners in particular vow to fight.

SEPT. 22

FEDS RAID

Thousands of federal agents raid businesses in downtown L.A.’s Fashion District, seizing $65 million in cash and making nine arrests, all part of a crackdown on alleged money-laundering schemes operated by Mexican drug cartels. The Department of Justice indicts one company, maternity retailer Q.T. Fashion Inc., saying it was used by the Sinaloa drug cartel to accept and launder ransom payments.

SEPT. 26

GROSS OUT

Big-name bond investor and billionaire Bill Gross leaves Newport Beach giant Pacific Investment Management Co., ending months of turmoil at the firm, which he founded in 1971. Gross’ departure was good news for downtown L.A. bond managers TCW Group and Jeffrey Gundlach’s DoubleLine Capital, which took in billions of dollars as investors pulled money out of Pimco.

OCT. 17

BIGGER BUILDER

Downtown L.A. engineering and construction company Aecom Technology Corp. completes its acquisition of San Francisco competitor URS Corp. The $6 billion deal, first announced over the summer, effectively doubles Aecom’s size, making it one of the largest engineering and construction firms in the nation.

NOV. 5

TINDER CEO OUT

West Hollywood dating app maker Tinder confirms co-founder Sean Rad will step down as chief executive, the latest in the fallout from a June 30 sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit filed against Tinder by ousted marketing executive Whitney Wolfe, who also said she was a co-founder of the company. The suit, which became national news, was settled out of court and contributed not only to Rad’s demotion but to the resignation of another co-founder, former chief marketing officer Justin Mateen.

NOV. 6

SLOWPOKES

With congestion rising at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Pacific Maritime Association, which represents shipping companies, accuses dockworkers of intentional work slowdowns aimed at squeezing shippers as the association and dockworkers continue contract negotiations that started in May. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union denies the claims, saying goods are moving slowly because of a lack of truck drivers and trailers, problems that have dogged the local ports for months.

DEC. 17

‘INTERVIEW’ PULLED

Sony Pictures Entertainment in Culver City pulls the release of “The Interview” after theater chains said they wouldn’t show it amid terrorist threats. Those threats followed a cyberattack against Sony Pictures in November that led to the release of embarrassing emails. The FBI said last week that the North Korean government was behind the attack. “The Interview” is a comedy about two American entertainment journalists hired to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.