FINAL ANSWER?: A U.S. District Court jury in Riverside has determined that Walt Disney Co. should pay a United Kingdom company $269 million in a royalty dispute over the hit TV game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” Celador International Ltd. in 1999 sold the U.S. rights to the British game show. The company filed suit in 2004 alleging that the Burbank media giant’s ABC and Buena Vista Television operations concealed profits through a “complex web of self-dealing transactions” in order to avoid paying licensing fees. Disney plans to appeal the jury award.
BUSINESS EXPANSION: Tetra Tech Inc. plans to buy the American business practice of PA Consulting Group, a London company. The Pasadena construction services provider said the unit provides international energy and infrastructure consulting services, and would roughly double its energy management consulting business. The 125 PA employees in the unit, which is based in Arlington, Va., and has offices in Madison, Wis., will become part of Tetra Tech’s technical support services division. Terms were not disclosed.
NEW INVESTOR: Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America has acquired a nearly 50 percent stake in the investment management arm of West L.A. property owner and manager Lowe Enterprises Inc. The New York insurer paid an undisclosed sum for the stake in Lowe Enterprises Investors, which manages $6 billion in client funds invested in commercial, hospital and residential properties. Guardian also pledged $200 million from its own fund to invest in the portfolio. The insurance company said the investment allows it to participate in the recovery of the commercial real estate market.
ABRAXIS SUIT: Abraxis BioScience Inc. has been sued by a shareholder who claims the company’s sale to Celgene Corp. for $2.9 billion is a bad deal for minority shareholders. Shareholder Michael K. Page claims that Abraxis Executive Chairman Patrick Soon-Shiong sold his company too cheaply to Celgene, a Summit, N.J., maker of cancer and immune-inflammatory drugs. The suit claims that Abraxis is worth more than $3.5 billion, based on the potential of its breast cancer drug Abraxane and prospects for its pipeline. Several law firms specializing in shareholder lawsuits also have announced investigations into whether the company was sold for too little.
STRIKE AVERTED: Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West, which represents about 130 janitors at Los Angeles International Airport reached a last-minute labor contract, averting the threat of a strike that could’ve started during the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend. The janitors, who work for contractors hired by United Airlines and American Airlines along with a consortium of international air carriers in Terminal 2, won a contract that maintains their current hourly wages of $10 to $11 and health benefits. Airport contractors ABM, Airserv and Flagship had proposed cuts in sick days and holidays as a way to reduce health care costs.
NEW PILL: Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. directors have adopted another shareholder rights plan as part of an effort to block a hostile takeover by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. The Santa Monica studio, which has corporate headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, said it adopted the so-called “poison pill” plan so that other shareholders could buy extra shares at a deep discount if any one shareholder, such as Icahn, accumulated 38 percent or more of Lions Gate’s outstanding common shares. Icahn has accumulated 33.9 percent of company shares and is now the studio’s single largest shareholder. He is expected to fight this latest rights plan.
LOSS EXPECTED: Wilshire Bancorp Inc. temporarily suspended its 5 cent dividend and warned of a surprise second quarter loss. Citing a souring loan portfolio, the Koreatown parent of Wilshire State Bank said it expects a loss of as much as $5 million, or 17 cents a share. Wall Street analysts had expected on average a second quarter profit of 11 cents per share. The bank did not specify what types of loans were souring, but it has had troubles in its commercial, construction and commercial real estate portfolios.
STREAMING DEAL: Mail-order DVD service Netflix has signed a five-year deal with West Hollywood independent film financing and production company Relativity Media to allow Netflix’s Internet streaming service to show Relativity titles such as “3:10 to Yuma.” The films will be distributed via the streaming service instead of traditional runs on pay cable channels, which tend to start four to seven months after a DVD release. This is the first direct deal with a Hollywood movie producer that Netflix has signed.
TECH ACQUISITION: Walt Disney has acquired Tapulous Inc., the Palo Alto maker of popular iPhone play-along games. The acquisition is part of the Burbank entertainment giant’s effort to develop games for popular mobile device platforms such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone and iPad. Tapulous has created several mobile games based on Disney themes, including “Alice in Wonderland Lite” and “Fairies Fly Lite.” Tapulous staff, including founders Bart Decrem and Andrew Lacy, will remain in Palo Alto. Terms were not disclosed.
AD TWEET: TweetUp, a Twitter advertising startup from Pasadena’s Idealab, has acquired Twidroid, which has developed a popular Twitter application for cell phones using Google’s Android operating system. TweetUp’s ad service allows Twitter users to buy higher placements of their tweets. Twidroid will be renamed Twidroyd to avoid trademark issues.
SOFTWARE BUY: Pictage, a Torrance company that operates an online service for professional photographers, has acquired niche software developer ShootQ. ShootQ, based in Atlanta, makes Web-based software for managing the business of professional photographers, such as handling their marketing and selling their work. Pictage operates an online site for wedding and portrait photographers that allows clients to browse and order photos. Financial terms were not disclosed.
