FIRST DIVIDEND: Drugmaker Amgen Inc. has announced it will start paying a quarterly dividend in the second quarter, and expects to pay about 20 percent of its adjusted annual profit in dividends. The Thousand Oaks company, considered the world’s largest biotech, has about $17.4 billion in cash, and had been criticized for spending on acquisitions and not providing more shareholder value. The company, which also increased its stock buyback program, said it will specify the amount of the dividend when earnings are announced.
DOWNTOWN HOTELS: Marriott International will add two more hotels at the L.A. Live complex as part of a plan by AEG to increase the number of rooms downtown as it seeks to expand the Los Angeles Convention Center and build a National Football League stadium. A 180-room Courtyard by Marriott, targeting business travelers, and a 197-room extended-stay Residence Inn by Marriott will share a 22-story high-rise slated for the northwest corner of Olympic Boulevard and Francisco Street. The hotels, expected to open in March 2014, will be lower priced than the nearby JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.
CITY BUDGET: City of Los Angeles employees would have to take more than a month of furlough days in the next fiscal year under a $6.9 billion budget proposed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, but many workers may be able to reduce the harm by agreeing to defer pay raises and increase their health care contributions. In an effort to close a more than $457 million deficit, the mayor is calling for 26 furlough days for city workers who will not get cost-of-living raises as part of their contracts, and 36 furloughs days for employees scheduled to get raises. The Police and Fire departments would take the largest hits.
TAKEOVER: Major League Baseball has taken over the day-to-day operations of the Los Angeles Dodgers from owner Frank McCourt due to what MLB Commissioner Bud Selig described as deep concerns over finances, security and other operational problems. Selig said he would appoint someone to oversee all operations of the franchise, which has been hurt by questions over financial management; fallout from the divorce of Frank McCourt and his estranged wife, Jamie; and security concerns in the wake of the beating of a San Francisco Giants fan.
RETIRING: James A. Thomson, who has served as chief executive and president of the non-profit policy think tank Rand Corp. for more than two decades, plans to retire this fall. In 1989, Thomson, 66, became Rand’s fourth president; he has served in the post longer than any of his predecessors. Under his leadership, the Santa Monica-based organization’s annual budget has grown from $91 million to more than $250 million, and its staff has grown from 1,050 to more than 1,700 people in nearly a dozen offices around the world.
SOLD: Teledyne Technologies Inc. has completed the sale of its piston engine businesses to a Chinese company for $186 million. Teledyne Continental Motors Inc. and Teledyne Mattituck Services Inc., makers of parts for propeller-driven general aviation aircraft, were sold to Technify Motor Inc., a unit of Beijing-based Avic International Holding Corp. The sale enables Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne, which will use some of the proceeds to pay down debt, to focus on its core commercial electronics and instrumentation businesses serving global energy, water quality and industrial products.
ENDORSED: Former city of Los Angeles jobs czar Austin Beutner has picked up major business endorsements as a potential candidate for mayor. Richard Riordan, a former mayor, and local business leader David Fleming announced their endorsements. Beutner is trying to position himself as the business candidate, noting his achievement since Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa named him first deputy mayor and jobs czar in January 2010, putting him in charge of coordinating several city departments to focus on job creation. The early endorsements to succeed Villaraigosa, who will be termed out, could be a setback for shopping center magnate Rick Caruso, who is considering a mayoral run.
TICKET PRICING: Ticketmaster has collaborated with West L.A. analytics company MarketShare to start a service called LiveAnalytics, which will enable performing artists and sports teams to raise and lower the price of tickets as they are being sold. The ticketing division of Beverly Hills-based Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said the goal is to enable artists and promoters, rather than scalpers, to obtain the most value from high-demand seats, and allow promoters to drop prices on seats that are less desirable rather than let them sit empty. Ticketmaster said it has tested the system with several professional baseball, basketball and hockey teams, and will also offer it for music concert tours.
BANK CEO: In the latest round in L.A.’s Korean-American bank executive shuffle, Commonwealth Business Bank appointed former Wilshire Bancorp Chief Executive Joanne Kim to the same position at its institution. Kim, a 32-year veteran of the local Korean-American banking community, resigned from Wilshire State in February. At Commonwealth, she will replace Wun Hwa (Jack) Choi, whose employment agreement was not renewed by the Wilshire Boulevard bank when it expired April 1. Korean-American banks – which have a reputation for replacing top executives frequently to bring in fresh blood – have had an even higher-than-usual turnover rate in the past year.
EARNINGS: City National Corp. reported quarterly net income of $39.7 million, compared with $10 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 9 percent to $275 million. Net interest income rose 3 percent to $181 million. … Cathay General Bancorp reported quarterly net income of $18 million, compared with a loss of $29.8 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to $87.7 million. …Cheesecake Factory Inc. reported quarterly net income of $20.5 million, up from $18.7 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.3 percent to less than $419 million.
