NFL SITE?: The St. Louis Rams confirmed a Business Journal report that team owner Stan Kroenke bought a 60-acre vacant lot in Inglewood from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., fueling speculation that the site might one day become home to a National Football League stadium. A Kroenke spokesman would not confirm plans for the land, but Inglewood has long been considered as a viable site for an NFL stadium.
WAGE HIKE: Long Beach City Council has approved an ordinance to raise the pay of airport and Convention Center workers to $13.26 an hour. The measure applies to concessions and retail workers at both facilities. The wage will rise annually, based on cost-of-living increases. The ordinance also requires employers to pass on any service charges or tips to workers. The ordinance, which exempts contractors who have collective bargaining agreements with their workers, is scheduled to take effect in mid-March. Employers will begin paying the higher wage as each operating contract with the city comes up for renewal.
LAYOFFS: Aerojet Rocketdyne is laying off roughly 5 percent of its workforce, including positions at its Chatsworth rocket engine plant. Total cuts between Chatsworth and Aerojet’s Sacramento facility were 225 positions, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Rocketdyne was acquired in June by Sacramento’s GenCorp., which then combined it with the AeroJet-General Corp. subsidiary.
CUTS: Walt Disney Co. reportedly will cut 200 jobs from its interactive division as part of a continuing reorganization at the Burbank entertainment giant. Disney Interactive, based in Glendale, has struggled in the past few years to develop console games. The latest cuts are expected to hit the Playdom.com business, the Wall Street Journal reported. Disney acquired the social media site in 2010
TAX CUT: L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is expected to propose phasing out the city’s business tax as part of his first budget, part of efforts to make Los Angeles more competitive with neighboring municipalities. The tax generates more than $400 million for the city annually. Business advocacy group Valley Industry and Commerce Association is urging its members to write to City Hall in favor of the plan.
NEW OWNERS: An investment group led by Lakers legend Ervin “Magic” Johnson and Los Angeles Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter has purchased the Women’s National Basketball Association team Los Angeles Sparks from Paula Madison and her family-owned business, Williams Group Holdings. Johnson said that the Sparks would continue to play at Staples Center and all of the staff, including General Manager Penny Toler and coach Carol Ross, would be retained. Madison in December said her firm could no longer afford to continue subsidizing the Sparks.
IPO PLANS: Rubicon Project Inc. has filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing its intention to raise as much as $100 million in an initial public offering. The Playa Vista company offers an ad exchange platform that connects publishers with advertisers. It was launched in 2007 by a group of local ad tech veterans, including Frank Addante, who serves as chief executive. The filing says Rubicon is not yet profitable. In 2012, the last full year for which information was available, it posted a loss of $2.3 million on revenue of $57 million. The company recorded a loss of $9.2 million through the first nine months of last year.
ACQUISITION: Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc. in Valencia has acquired a Pennsylvania supply chain management firm serving the aerospace industry in a deal valued at $550 million. Haas Group Inc. of West Chester will add 1,300 employees and 35 distribution hubs worldwide to the rolls of the aerospace supplier. Wesco has completed a series of acquisitions since it was taken public by Carlyle Group in July 2011.
NEW HOME: New Line Cinemas, the studio behind the blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, plans to move in June to the Warner Bros. Studios lot in Burbank from West Hollywood. New Line will take space vacated by production company Legendary Entertainment. New Line was founded in 1967 as a distributor of foreign and art house films. The studio was brought into the Time Warner fold in 1996 and merged with Warner Bros. in 2008.
EARNINGS: Walt Disney Co. reported fiscal first quarter net income of $1.8 billion, 34 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 9 percent to $12.3 billion. … Mattel Inc. reported fourth quarter net income of $369 million, up 20 percent. Revenue fell 6 percent to $2.11 billion. … CBRE Group Inc. reported fourth quarter net income of more than $114 million, down 36 percent. Revenue rose 11 percent to $2.2 billion. … Avery Dennison Corp. reported fourth quarter net income of $43 million, down 10 percent. Revenue rose 7 percent to $1.58 billion. … Aecom Technology Corp. reported first fiscal quarter net income of $56 million, up 48 percent. Revenue fell 3 percent to $1.95 billion. … Sport Chalet Inc. reported fiscal third quarter net income of $1.5 million, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $1.9 million. Revenue fell 2 percent to $95.3 million.
