PORT STRIKE: Striking port clerks shut down most container terminals at the local ports. Three of six terminals at the Port of Long Beach remained open, while just one of eight terminals was open at the Port of Los Angeles at press time. The strike by office clerks has become the largest at the port in a decade. Longshore workers are honoring the clerical workers’ picket lines. Several ships were rerouted to other ports while others are waiting outside the harbor.
MARS COLONY: Elon Musk, founder of L.A. rocket company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, described his plans for a colony on Mars in a speech to the Royal Aeronautical Society in London. Musk, whose private space transport company in Hawthorne recently became the first private U.S. company to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, said he plans an initial community of at least 80,000 colonists, each paying $500,000 for the privilege.
FILM DEAL: Burbank studio Warner Bros. extended its deal with longtime partner Village Roadshow Pictures, producer of films such as the “Sherlock Holmes” and “Matrix” series, until 2017. Village Roadshow has secured debt financing of more than $1.1 billion to invest in upcoming movies including “The Great Gatsby,” “Lego” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
INITIATIVE DROPPED: Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan has abandoned a controversial proposed initiative to overhaul the city’s pension system, saying the campaign couldn’t gather the required 300,000-plus signatures by the Dec. 28 deadline for the May ballot. The ballot measure would have converted the city’s defined benefit plan for all new city employees into a defined contribution plan similar to a 401(k) plan. Organized labor opposed the plan.
SUPER SIZED: Swedish retailer Ikea plans to build a new furniture-housewares superstore in Burbank that would be twice the size of its current location in that city. At 470,000 square feet, the proposed store, on 22 acres off Interstate 5 and south of Providencia Avenue, would be Ikea’s largest in the United States.
LIGHTER SENTENCE: L.A. venture capitalist and philanthropist Elliott Broidy was spared jail time after being allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for his participation in a pay-to-play corruption scandal involving former New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi. Broidy reportedly provided important evidence in the case against Hevesi, who served as the sole trustee to a $125 billion public pension fund. Broidy repaid the state the $18 million in fees he received as part of the scam.
ACQUIRED: Geni.com, an L.A. genealogy and family networking website, is being acquired by MyHeritage, an Israeli firm that has been expanding into the United States. The Tel Aviv company, which is considered the second largest company in the online family heritage sector, did not disclose how much it paid for Geni, but news reports said the deal was a combination of cash and equity valued in the tens of millions of dollars.
NEW FUND: Greycroft Partners, a venture capital firm specializing in early stage Internet and media companies, has closed its third fund, raising $175 million. The Santa Monica firm, which also has headquarters in New York, typically invests $500,000 to $5 million. Investments over the years have included Encino online market research firm uSamp.
EXPANSION: Preferred Bank has received state and federal regulatory approval to open a branch in the San Francisco Bay Area, its first expansion outside Southern California. The downtown L.A. bank, which specializes in the Chinese American market, said the new San Francisco operation will build on the bank’s existing customer relationships in the Bay Area, which is home to the state’s second largest Chinese American population.
HOLDINGS TRIMMED: Thomas Properties Group Inc. has sold a 14-acre parcel in Houston that is planned for a new global headquarters for oil and gas producer Phillips 66 Co. The downtown L.A. real estate company said the parcel was a noncore property that it had no near-term plans to develop.
BOND SALE: Walt Disney Co. has sold about $3 billion in bonds, its largest bond sale this year. The Burbank entertainment giant reportedly took advantage of low interest rates to raise operating capital and pay down older debt. Proceeds are expected be used for general corporate purposes, which could include partial repayment of an estimated $2.05 billion in debt, or to help finance Disney’s pending $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd., according to reports by debt rating firms.
EARNINGS: Motorcar Parts of America Inc. reported a net loss of $9.9 million, compared with $8.3 million the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 26 percent to $89 million.
