PORT TRAFFIC: The Port of Los Angeles has reported its best May ever but the Port of Long Beach has reported another decline for the same month. The number of cargo containers passing through the L.A. port in May jumped to 731,353, a 5.5 percent increase over the same month last year and the port’s best month in nearly two years. “We hadn’t seen this kind of number since August 2010,” said L.A. port spokesman Phillip Sanfield. Long Beach’s cargo numbers have fallen every month this year. Last month, the Long Beach port handled 497,892 containers, down 7 percent from the same month last year.
MARKETING MONEY: L.A. software developer GraphEffect said it has raised $12 million to expand its business for social marketers. Money from the financing primarily will be used to expand development and product teams. The equity and debt financing was led by Rincon Venture Partners. Jim Andelman of Rincon will join the board. GraphEffect products enable social marketers to integrate and manage their marketing programs on a single platform. Companies and agencies use the software to coordinate efforts and measure the impact of marketing efforts.
TRUSTEE ELECTED: Thomas Barrack Jr., founder of L.A. private-equity firm Colony Capital LLC, has been elected to the board at USC. Barrack, 65, who received a bachelor’s degree from the university in 1969, founded Colony Capital in 1991. As chairman and chief executive, he has invested about $45 billion in assets worldwide, overseeing an organization with offices in 13 cities and 10 countries. He is also a member of the board of USC’s Marshall School of Business.
CONTENT ADDED: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. have signed a licensing agreement that will make MGM’s extensive film and TV catalog available on Amazon’s Internet video service. The MGM catalog, which includes “Silence of the Lambs,” “Terminator” and the series “Stargate,” will boost the Seattle e-commerce company’s Amazon Prime Instant Video service, which competes with Netflix and Apple streaming services. “MGM offers one of the most distinguished catalogs in all of Hollywood,” Brad Beale, Amazon’s director of digital video content acquisition, said in a statement.
PILOTS LEAVE: TV pilot production in Los Angeles rose this year, but the most economically significant productions – dramas – continued their flight out of the area, according to a report by FilmL.A. Inc., a non-profit organization that tracks L.A. filming. For the most recent pilot season, 92 pilot projects were shot in the L.A. area, and 60 were shot in either other counties or states. But much of the local action was for lower-price comedies, which typically cost about $2 million per episode to make – less than half that of the average drama, according to FilmL.A.
AMGEN PURCHASE: Amgen Inc. has completed its acquisition of Turkish generic drug maker Mustafa Nevzat Pharmaceuticals. The Thousand Oaks biotech said that it acquired more than 99 percent of the Istanbul company – more than originally anticipated when the $700 million cash deal was announced in April. Mustafa, also known as MN Pharmaceuticals, is a leading supplier of drugs, including injectable medicines, to hospitals and other customers in Turkey.
NCAL ACQUIRED: The holding companies of Grandpoint Bank and the National Bank of California have signed a definitive merger agreement in which Grandpoint Capital will acquire NCal Bancorp. National Bank of California will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Grandpoint Capital, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
HIRING SURVEY: Local companies are expected to step up their hiring during the third quarter, according to a survey by Manpower Group. According to the survey, 17 percent of firms queried said they intend to increase staffing levels during the third quarter. That’s up from 16 percent that said they intended to staff up during the second quarter, though it’s down from 18 percent for the third quarter of 2011.
