SALE: Hot Topic Inc., a mall retailer specializing in clothing, accessories and music to teens, has agreed to be bought by New York private-equity firm Sycamore Partners for about $600 million. The City of Industry company, which operates more than 800 Hot Topic, Torrid and Blackheart stores, said the $14-a-share offer is 30 percent higher than Hot Topic’s closing price March 6, the day before the deal was announced. Lisa Harper, a board member who took over as chief executive two years ago to help turn around the company during the recession, is expected to stay on. The acquisition will require shareholder and regulatory approval.
ANNUAL MEETING: Shareholders of Walt Disney Co. sided with management at the company’s annual meeting, rejecting a proposal to separate the jobs of chief executive and chairman after Robert Iger retires in 2016. The proposal by Connecticut’s state treasurer, who was acting on behalf of the state’s employee retirement funds, was endorsed by two major proxy advisory firms, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System and other institutional investors. Shareholders also re-elected the board and endorsed executive compensation packages. Disney’s board last year made changes to its compensation formulas to tie pay and bonuses more directly to performance.
RATE DISPUTE: Mercury General Corp.’s insurance unit has filed a lawsuit against state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, challenging his order of an 8 percent rate decrease for the company’s 270,000 homeowner policyholders in the state. L.A.-based Mercury Casualty Co. had proposed a 7.3 percent rate increase on its homeowner policies, citing data indicating rising loss costs. Mercury argued that its homeowner policy rates are among the lowest in the state and that Jones used outdated data in issuing his order.
SITE CLOSURE: Defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. is closing a site in Dominguez Hills and moving its operations to other locations, citing the need to lower costs because of government budget pressures. The information systems facility, where the Falls Church, Va., aerospace and defense contractor company employs 768 people, provides information technology services for military, intelligence, commercial and state and local customers. The jobs will be sent to other Northrop facilities as part of a plant consolidation plan.
REORGANIZATION: The company behind the “Girls Gone Wild” video empire, GGW Brands LLC, and several subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an effort to restructure its legal affairs after several court judgments. In filings in Los Angeles bankruptcy court, GGW lists more than $16 million in disputed claims. The largest is $10.3 million that Wynn Resorts Ltd. is seeking from the company for judgments entered against company founder Joe Francis over a gambling debt and statements he has made about the casino and its founder, Steve Wynn.
MISSION SUCCESS: A SpaceX Dragon capsule recovered from an early glitch to deliver 1 ton of supplies, including food, clothes and apples, to the International Space Station. The Hawthorne-based company, formally Space Exploration Technologies, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, had a problem that prevented thrusters from working, and it took flight controllers several hours to salvage the mission. The Dragon is expected to remain at the space station for most of this month. It’s the third trip to the space station for a SpaceX craft.
TAX BREAK: Two California legislators have responded to the uproar over a state tax agency’s decision to retroactively take away a tax break for angel investors. State Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, and Assemblyman Jeff Gorell, R-Camarillo, introduced legislation last week to restore the tax break for those who previously used it and to prevent future retroactive tax increases. In response to a court decision last summer, the state Franchise Tax Board in December ended the tax break going forward and ordered about 2,000 angel investors who used it between 2008 and 2012 to pay it back with interest.
NEW NAME: Home Depot Center, a Carson sports facility that is home to the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA Major League Soccer teams, will become StubHub Center in June. StubHub, an online ticket reseller and subsidiary of EBay Inc., will become the name sponsor of the $150 million multiuse sports venue, which is owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group.
CLOSURE: Sunset Strip hot spot the Key Club will close its doors March 15. The West Hollywood live-music venue, founded in the 1960s as Gazzarri’s, once had a marquee name when it booked acts such as the Doors and Tom Petty. The venue has more recently booked acts such as Kanye West and the Black Eyed Peas.
NEW PLANES: The first British Airways Airbus A380 flights will come to Los Angeles International Airport in mid-October. Travelers will be able to fly the double-decker planes on British Airways flights between Los Angeles and London Heathrow starting Oct. 15, the airline said last week. The A380, which carries 469 travelers, will be the largest aircraft in the airline’s fleet. British Airways has ordered 12 of the planes for delivery by 2016.
AEG SALE: Colony Capital LLC looks like the high bidder so far in the auction for Anschutz Entertainment Group, although sources say that no suitor so far has offered the minimum that the L.A. sports and entertainment giant’s owner had expected. Sources told Bloomberg News that L.A. Dodgers owner Guggenheim Partners LLC has dropped out of the bidding, but could return if AEG owner Philip Anschutz drops the $8 billion minimum price he’d reportedly accept. West L.A. billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong is also reportedly still interested in AEG.
NO NFL?: The National Football League has lost interest in the current plan to bring a team to downtown Los Angeles, Yahoo Sports reported. One anonymous source said the league has rejected a deal with L.A. sports and entertainment giant Anschutz Entertainment Group, which proposed building a stadium downtown, because the economics don’t make sense. Michael Roth, AEG spokesman, said the company declined to comment on a story that quotes unnamed sources.
EARNINGS: AeroVironment Inc. reported net income of $3.9 million, 32 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier. Revenue fell more than 34 percent to $47 million. …KornFerry International reported net income of $9.5 million, 18 percent lower than in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 7.5 percent to $210 million.
