County-USC Replacement Approved
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a 600-bed replacement hospital for earthquake-damaged County-USC Medical Center, ending years of debate over the replacement hospital’s size.
To appease supporters of a larger medical center, the board also agreed to study patient loads at the center in four years, and if demand remains above the 770-bed level the county would build a 150-bed annex to the hospital.
The board approved the replacement hospital and possible annex by a 3-2 vote, with supervisors Gloria Molina and Mike Antonovich opposing the compromise. Molina had long fought for a 750-bed hospital, while Antonovich supported a 500-bed facility.
Big Gifts for Universities
Billionaire financial services mogul Eli Broad donated $18 million to Caltech for construction of a biological research center, which could help spur the creation of a biotech corridor in the Pasadena area.
The gift from Broad, chairman of SunAmerica Inc., will go toward a $100 million fund-raising effort by Caltech for a laboratory and staff of researchers who would study promising areas of inquiry turned up by the federally funded Human Genome Project. Business leaders hope the center will prompt entrepreneurs to launch biotech companies in the surrounding area to take advantage of the research.
Meanwhile, USC’s School of Education received a $20 million gift last week from Barbara and Roger Rossier, Orange County educators who earned doctoral degrees at USC. It was the largest gift ever made to a U.S. school of education.
Grinch Sold to Universal
In one of the largest deals for book rights ever signed in Hollywood, Universal Studios Inc. agreed to pay up to $9 million for the rights to two classic children’s books by Theodor Geisel, whose pen name was Dr. Seuss.
Universal Pictures negotiated the deal with Geisel’s widow for “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” on behalf of Imagine Entertainment, helmed by movie director Ron Howard. Imagine plans to produce live-action movies based on the two books, including a full-length version of “Grinch” starring Jim Carrey in the title role.
Job Growth Estimates Lowered
UCLA economists lowered their job-growth expectations for California in 1998 and 1999, although the forecast is still a positive one.
The UCLA-Anderson Forecast Project projects non-farm job growth of 3.1 percent in California this year and 2.3 percent in 1999. Previously, the group had projected growth of 3.4 percent this year and 2.5 percent in 1999. The lowered projections means about 50,000 fewer jobs will be created each year.
Still, California is expected to do considerably better than the nation as a whole. The group projects national job growth of only 0.9 percent in 1999.
Cuts at Peacock Network
NBC has begun a cost-cutting drive expected to result in 200 to 300 layoffs, mostly in Los Angeles and New York, as the network struggles to make up for increased programming costs.
NBC’s cuts follow similar austerity measures already undertaken by both CBS and ABC. The latter two networks signed deals with the National Football League that will cost each of them in excess of $4 billion over the next eight years.
NBC agreed to pay $280 million a year for the next three years to renew its hit series “E.R.” It also faces a probable decrease in advertising revenues because of the loss of its No. 1 show, “Seinfeld,” which ended its run last spring.
Show May Leave Long Beach
Organizers of the Action Sports Retailer Trade Expo are considering moving their annual spring show from the Long Beach Convention Center to Anaheim by January 2001.
“Long Beach is filling the needs we have now, but we are full there,” said the show’s director, Court Overin. “We are maxed out.”
The show also has annual exhibits in San Diego and Atlanta. The San Diego Convention Center is planning an expansion that will allow ASR to expand its show there in a couple of years. But the Long Beach center completed an expansion four years ago and is not planning for more space.
The three-day California ASR exhibitions in Long Beach and San Diego attract manufacturers in the surf, skate, swim, snow, style and wakeboard industries.
Imperial Hits 52-Week Low
Imperial Bancorp’s stock took a beating last week after the company announced its third-quarter earnings would be as much as 74 percent lower than estimated.
Inglewood-based Imperial, parent of Imperial Bank, saw its shares fall to $15.69 on the day of the announcement a 52-week low. Imperial officials said quarterly earnings would be 29 cents to 32 cents below the 43 cents expected by analysts.
Imperial’s earnings are being dragged down by its subsidiary Imperial Credit Industries, in which it owns a 23 percent stake. Torrance-based Imperial Credit expects to report a loss of between $65 million and $75 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30. The declining value of stocks held by Imperial Credit, particularly in real estate investment trusts, was blamed for the downturn.
Masters Leaves E! Network
Lee Masters, who built E! Entertainment Network into a national cable channel with 52 million subscribers, resigned from his post as president and chief executive.
Masters is in negotiations for a top post with another entertainment company, although he declined to reveal which one. He leaves E! at a time when it is preparing to launch a new cable network, called Style, covering the fashion industry.
Comcast Corp., E!’s majority owner, has not yet announced a replacement.
Kinney Chain to Close
Venator Group Inc.’s decision to close its struggling Kinney shoe-store chain will shutter 33 stores in Southern California and affect about 230 employees.
Venator, formerly known as Woolworth Corp. until it closed its Woolworth dime-store chain, is shutting 570 Kinney and Footquarters stores around the country because the chains have been consistent money-losers. Venator plans to concentrate on running its athletic-shoe business the Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker and Kids Foot Locker chains. Footquarters has no stores in California.
New York-based Venator suffered a net loss of $18 million for the first six months of this year.
Compiled by Dan Turner
