News of the Week

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NO SALE: Philip Anschutz, billionaire owner and chairman of AEG, has taken the L.A. sports and entertainment giant off the market. In addition, Tim Leiweke, the company’s chief executive, is stepping down by mutual agreement. Anschutz put AEG up for sale in September for an estimated $8 billion. Offers were said to be short of the company’s asking price. Dan Beckerman, who has served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer, will take Leiweke’s place, but Anschutz said he plans to take a more active role in the company.


BBB CONFLICT:
The Council of Better Business Bureaus has expelled the L.A.-area chapter that grades local businesses. BBB of the Southland, which covers Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and Riverside counties, has been accused of requiring businesses to pay a membership fee in order to get a high rating.

MUSEUM MIX: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has proposed acquiring the struggling Museum of Contemporary Art. LACMA would preserve MOCA’s two downtown L.A. locations and operate them under the MOCA name. In a letter to MOCA’s board, LACMA said it would raise $100 million for the combined museums as a condition of the deal.


MACHINIMA DEAL:
Ridley Scott and his commercial company, Ridley Scott and Associates, have partnered with West Hollywood online network Machinima to produce 12 original sci-fi short films, Machinima announced. RSA’s directing talent will helm science-fiction content to be distributed through Machinima, the No. 1 entertainment channel on YouTube. Machinima Chief Executive Allen DeBevoise hopes the partnership with Scott will result in new franchises for the genre.

PARCEL FEE: Los Angeles County supervisors have sent a proposed parcel fee to combat storm water pollution back for revision. The proposed fee, which faced widespread opposition, would be levied on all property owners within the county’s flood control district. It would raise an estimated $290 million a year to help local governments comply with new state regulations concerning the impact of polluted storm water and urban runoff on water quality.

PORT PROJECT: The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has approved a study for development of a new oil terminal. The preliminary agreement between the Port of Long Beach and Vopak Terminals North America Inc. of Houston sets the terms for an environmental impact study of the project. If approved, the company would develop a site as a deep-water terminal for crude oil and petroleum products including gasoline.

STUDIO OFFER: South Korean media company JS Communications Co. has made a bid for struggling Academy Award-wining visual-effects studio Rhythm & Hues Studios Inc. The company, which won an Oscar for best visual effects for its work on “Life of Pi,” said in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that JS is offering about $17 million.


LIVE STAKE:
Madison Square Garden Co. said it has sold a $44 million stake in Live Nation Entertainment Inc. MSG Executive Chairman James Dolan had resigned from the board of the Beverly Hills concert promoter after the departure of Irving Azoff as Live Nation’s chairman. Liberty Media Corp. bought the stake.


OLYMPICS BID:
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee saying that civic, business and community leaders have lined up to express their interest in bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The city hosted the games in 1932 and 1984. The host city won’t be selected until 2017.


ECONOMIC FORECAST:
The UCLA Anderson Forecast said that nonfarm payroll growth in California is expected to reach 1.4 percent this year, which should help push the state’s unemployment rate down to 9.3 percent by the end of the year. Payroll growth is projected to then reach more than 2 percent next year and the year after. An anticipated comeback for the U.S. economy is expected to fuel that state’s growth, the forecast said.


LAYOFFS LOW:
The staffing outlook among L.A.-area employers shows that layoffs may hit a five-year low during the second quarter, according to the latest survey by staffing company Manpower Group. The quarterly survey of employers in Los Angeles and Orange counties found that 13 percent plan to hire personnel, while 1 percent of employers plan to lay people off. Hiring activity is expected to slow during the quarter.

ONEWEST SALE: The hedge fund billionaires who took over IndyMac Bank after the mortgage meltdown and renamed it OneWest Bank are exploring the possibility of selling the Pasadena savings and loan, sources told the Los Angeles Times. OneWest Chairman Steven Mnuchin declined to comment. Bank executives have said they were expecting to sell it or take it public.

NASA WORK: A subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Inc. has won a $350 million contract to design and test new space systems for NASA. The Thousand Oaks company said Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc. was selected as one of three contractors for NASA’s engineering and prototyping operations at its Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The contracts will run for five years.

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