EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

TOP STORIES

The European Commission cleared France's Vivendi SA to combine its video game business, made up largely of Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment Inc., with Santa Monica-based Activision Inc. The $ 19 billion deal, announced in December, is set to close after European regulators found it wouldn't threaten competition.

Santa Ana-based First American Corp. announced a shake-up to its board, based on the recommendations of its largest shareholder. The title insurance and business information company elected five directors. Chairman emeritus Donald Kennedy and Gary Beban stepped down as directors (see Insider column, page 3).

TECHNOLOGY

Santa Ana's STEC Inc., a maker of flash memory drives for industrial uses, is being sued by the top maker of traditional disk drives, Seagate Technology LLC. Scotts Valley-based Seagate claims that STEC violated four of its patents. STEC said it will "aggressively pursue its defense" in what many observers see as a Seagate bid to slow the development of flash drives as a rival to disk drives.

Shares of Irvine's Epicor Software Corp., a maker of business software, slumped last week after the company cut its first-quarter and yearly outlook. The stock fell nearly 27% on a recent market value of about $460 million. Epicor expects 2008 revenue of $536 million to $544 million, down from its original outlook of $545 million to $555 million. It expects yearly profits of $54 million to $56 million, down from $60 million to $62 million. First-quarter results, which Epicor warned would come in below expectations, are due April 29.

Shares of Tustin-based Cherokee International Corp., a maker of power supply gear for medical devices, fell after the company hired an investment bank to weigh its options. Cherokee enlisted Little Rock, Ark.-based Stephens Inc. to assist in "exploring various strategic alternatives for the company," including selling some assets. It's likely one of the options includes a sale of the company. Cherokee's market value, at about $40 million last week, has fallen by half in the past year.

REAL ESTATE

Igor Olenicoff, founder and president of Newport Beach-based real estate company Olen Properties Corp., was spared prison time in the conclusion of the billionaire's long-running tax dispute. In federal court in Santa Ana last week, a judge sentenced Olenicoff to two years probation and 120 hours of community service as part of an earlier plea agreement on a charge of willful filing of a false tax return.

FINANCE

Brea-based Fremont General Corp is selling branches, deposits and its stake in commercial real estate loans. Maryland's CapitalSource Inc. is buying the assets from Fremont to form a California industrial bank. The deal is valued at about $100 million (see story page 6).

Auto lender Consumer Portfolio Services Inc. of Irvine sold $310 million in subprime auto loans to Wall Street in its first securitazation since November to test investors' appetites.

GOVERNMENT

Irvine's Great Park board voted late last week to suspend its search for a chief executive until January. Two council members last year questioned the fairness of the city's national search for an executive to oversee the conversion of the former El Toro Marine base after two men with ties to City Hall were tapped, then declined the position.

OTHER NEWS

The value of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball team rose 16% in the past year to $500 million, according to Forbes. The team went from No. 13 a year ago to No. 6 in the magazine's annual ranking of baseball teams by value.

Henry "Nick" Nicholas, cofounder and former chief executive of Irvine's Broadcom Corp., checked into the Betty Ford Center for alcohol rehabilitation, voluntarily signing up for a 30-day admission, said Bill Hake, Nicholas' personal lawyer.

Copyright CBJ, L. P. Apr 21-Apr 27, 2008
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