Disney Stock Little Changed After Earnings
Strong television ratings and increased theme park attendance helped profit at The Walt Disney Co. rise 12 percent in the second quarter, although the media conglomerate did report a drop in earnings at its film studio, the Associated Press reports. Disney’s stock was little changed on the news, rising 8 cents to $29.66 in early Wednesday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The Burbank-based company reported late Tuesday net income of $733 million, or 37 cents per share, for the three months that ended April 1, compared with income of $657 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same period last year.
State Steps In on Kaiser Transplants
The state’s top HMO regulator said late Tuesday that Kaiser Permanente would pay for kidney transplants at outside hospitals for patients dissatisfied with Kaiser’s troubled new transplant program in Northern California, the Los Angeles Times reports. Kaiser, the nation’s largest HMO, “will be ending up financially responsible for transplants that are received in other institutions,” said Cindy Ehnes, director of the California Department of Managed Health Care. The arrangement is part of an agreement with Kaiser that will be formally announced today at a news conference in Oakland, Ehnes said. The deal stems from reports in The Times last week that described how Kaiser patients were imperiled when the HMO directed its patients to transfer from established transplant centers to its fledgling program in San Francisco.
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Video Game Gurus Fired Up for Expo
Hordes of game fiends will make their annual pilgrimage to the Electronic Entertainment Expo Wednesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The annual blowout, cloaked in raging music and flashing lights, gives the multi-billion-dollar video game business a chance to show off its wares for the first time to the world during a three-day, industry-only trade show. The event has become one of the most important times for developers and publishers to shape their business for the year, though you wouldn’t know it from the setting. Walking through the doors feels more like an arcade – or several dozen, packed into one room – than a boardroom. This will be the first year publishers and developers have had a good amount of time to work out titles for the so-called “next gen” consoles.
Blaze Guts HB Pier Plaza’s Baja Sharkeez
A persistent fire fueled by stored furniture and alcohol gutted Baja Sharkeez in Hermosa Beach on Tuesday, the Daily Breeze reported, causing more than $1 million in damage and shuttering one of the South Bay’s most popular eateries and night spots indefinitely, officials said. The fire, which started about 4:35 a.m., caused smoke damage to neighboring Sangria and Patrick Molloy’s and shut down lower Pier Avenue for most of the day. The restaurant’s owner says he will rebuild.
