Kerkorian Presses GM to Join Alliance of Renault and Nissan
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is pressing General Motors Co. to “fully explore” joining the alliance between Renault S.A. and Nissan Motor Co., and said those auto makers are interested in expanding their partnership and buying a minority stake in GM, the Wall street Journal reports. Shares of GM were up nearly 11% in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Tracinda, Mr. Kerkorian’s investment vehicle, said it sent a letter to GM Chairman Richard Wagoner in which Tracinda proposed that GM’s board of directors establish a committee to examine teaming up with Renault and Nissan, which are both run by Carlos Ghosn.
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Copley to Explore Options for its L.A.-Area Newspapers
La Jolla-based The Copley Press Inc.,which operates the Daily Breeze and other newspapers along the coast, says possibilities include mergers, sales or other transactions, the Daily Breeze reports. The owner of the Daily Breeze and three other local papers said Thursday that it is “exploring strategic alternatives” that could result in the media company selling its South Bay publications. La Jolla-based The Copley Press Inc. owns the Daily Breeze, Palos Verdes Peninsula News, The Beach Reporter and More San Pedro under the umbrella of Copley Los Angeles Newspapers, headquartered in Torrance. Copley Press is considering strategic alternatives that include “possible mergers, sales or other transactions,” according to a company statement.
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GE Closes Long-Standing Facility at Ontario Airport
Under one name or another, General Electric has been operating in the city of Ontario since World War I. From the 1920s until after World War II, its Hotpoint Iron plant was the biggest single employer in town, the Pasadena Star-News reports. As of today, though, GE will disappear from the scene in Ontario save for a 19-employee test cell. GE’s Engine Services plant, which has been part of the scene at Ontario International Airport since the 1950s, will close its doors for the last time.
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Tenet Settles With U.S. for $900 Million
Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s $900-million settlement Thursday with the federal government over allegations that it bilked Medicare clears the troubled hospital company of most of its legal woes, the Los Angeles Times reports. But Tenet faces a stagnant hospital market that is struggling with declining admissions and increased competition. he settlement is the second-largest of its kind, after HCA Inc.’s $1.7-billion accord in 2000. Tenet also announced that it would close or sell 11 of its 68 hospitals, including Alvarado Hospital Medical Center in San Diego, whose sale it had previously disclosed.
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Wedding Snow and Surf, One Board Maker Buys Another
Uniting brands that rule the slopes and dominate the waves, Burton Snowboards said that it had purchased Channel Islands Surfboards in Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles Times reports. The two companies were born of lowly circumstances , one in a barn, the other in a garage , but as far as some industry insiders are concerned, it’s a marriage made in board-sport heaven. The deal pairs legendary surfboard shaper Al Merrick with snowboarding pioneer Jake Burton. Both Burton and Channel Islands are privately held, neither releases financial results and neither would disclose the terms of the deal. Burton is thought to be the world’s largest snowboard maker, and Merrick said his company was the world’s largest single-label surfboard manufacturer.
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Ralphs Expects Plea Deal on Hiring
The Ralphs grocery chain plans to plead guilty to charges that it illegally rehired hundreds of locked-out workers during the bitter Southern California supermarket dispute more than two years ago, the company’s parent said according to the Los Angeles Times. Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. said in a regulatory filing that Ralphs “expects to enter into an agreement that will include a plea of guilty to some of the charges” in a 53-count indictment handed up in December by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles. Kroger didn’t reveal how much Ralphs would pay as a result of the expected settlement. In December, prosecutors said the chain could face fines of more than $100 million if convicted on all counts, as well as back pay and restitution for Ralphs workers and their union.
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