Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. is all set to buy the digital TV chip business of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. for about $192.8 million in cash.

Advanced Micro Devices is an American semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California. The company’s TV chips receive over-the-air broadcasts and process the signals to improve picture quality. They are used in flat-panel and
rear-projection sets. Customers of the AMD include Sony Corp. and Samsung Group.

AMD is selling the unit of its business to reduce debt and improve profitability, according to Dirk Meyer,  President and Chief Executive. (more…)

Irvine-based Hines Horticulture Inc. filed bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. It has listed debt of as much as $500 million and assets of less than $50,000.

According to the company, its bankruptcy filing was a result of the economic and housing downturn, high costs for materials and fuel, poor weather and pressure for lower prices from customers. (more…)

Orange County, in the past year, has witnessed potential growth in both its revenue and population in all its 34 cities. One city that has outshone the rest in this competition is the city of Irvine, which has replaced Huntington Beach to take the #3 spot.

The parameters taken into account while making this decision were, the annual revenue, city workers and large employers.

The population growth in Orange County reflected a 1% increase (30,555 people numerically), with Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine, Huntington Beach and Garden Grove, standing tall as the five biggest cities and accounting for more than 40% (1.28 million) of Orange County’s overall population. (more…)

Olen Properties Corp. has started the construction of its new apartment at its Olen Pointe Brea office campus. The new project is a 260-unit apartment and it is going to be the largest in the North County city in the past decade.

Olen Pointe Brea is a 29-acre office complex that is located at the northwest corner of Lambert Road and Wildcat Way. The complex comprises of office buildings, parking structures and four restaurants. This is one of the largest office complexes in Brea.   Its office structures occupy about 4.1 million square feet of total area. (more…)

After heavy decline of jobs in June, Orange County again lost a significant number of jobs in the month of July. The Employment Development Department reported that, the county lost 29,900 jobs, a decline of 2 percent as compared to same period a year ago.

Reportedly, Orange County started losing jobs last year. And July posted the highest loss since late last year. Of late, it marks the county’s first time job loss in a yearly and monthly basis. (more…)

The acquisition of Jazz Technologies Inc. located in Orange County by Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd. is expected to close by next month, said both the companies on Wednesday.

Tower Semiconductor Ltd. has signed a deal on May for the acquisition of Jazz Technologies Inc., in order to expand its efforts in the specialty foundry arena.

Newport Beach, Orange County-based Jazz Technologies is the parent company of Jazz Semiconductor, Inc., a leading independent wafer foundry focused on Analog-Intensive Mixed-Signal (AIMS) process technologies. The company’s broad product portfolio includes digital CMOS and specialty technologies, such as RF CMOS, Analog CMOS, Silicon and SiGe BiCMOS, SiGe C-BiCMOS, Power CMOS and High Voltage CMOS. (more…)

Endocare Inc., which is an Irvine, Orange County, California based medical device maker, has a buyout proposal from HealthTronics Inc. of Austin. The offer is worth 26.9 million dollars.

Endocare said in a statement that its board would review and consider the offer. The offer is 20% more than what Endocare was valued earlier.

HealthTronics excels in manufacturing urology products, including prostate cancer treatment, and is planning to buy Endocare so that it can exceed in the motto of widening its treatment offerings in the medical field. (more…)

Newport Beach Orange County, California based Downey Financial Corp., the parent company of Downey Savings and Loan Association said on Monday that its customers are withdrawing cash at a much faster rate, for the last month or so. Newport Beach-based Downey, said that "After the end of the second quarter the bank experienced elevated levels of deposit withdrawals."

The company further elaborated on the statement that they might not be able to handle these ever increasing debts, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The losses from bad loans are increasing day by day and they are mostly because of those customers who borrowed adjustable rate mortgages, which became really unaffordable when the rates were set at a much higher level. (more…)

Shares of Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell on Thursday before the company could announce its second quarter results. The Irvine Orange County, California -based ophthalmic pharmaceutical company’s shares were down 35 percent at the close of Thursday’s trading on a market value of about $45 million. Ista’s shares have depressed since April due to disappointing drug results.

The same day the company reported its financial results for the second quarter of the year 2008, where it narrowed its loss as compared to the same quarter last year. Ista’ posted a net revenue of $17.8 million for the quarter, a 31 percent increase over the same quarter of the year 2007. The net loss for the quarter was $8.5 million or $0.26 per share, as compared to a net loss of $8.7 million or $0.32 per share for the same period in the year 2007. (more…)

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher took time off from his busy schedule to give advice and encouragement to business owners and entrepreneurs at an Orange County Entrepreneur Community Meetup, (OCEC). Part of the evening was being taped for the show “Business in the OC” and hosted by Paul Higgins. Michael Banks the organizer of OCEC was also on hand with advice and words of guidance. The Meetup was hosted and recorded at Internet Business Systems’ studio in Irvine, California.

Members and guests of the OCEC, which is sponsored by American Express OPEN, spent considerable time networking and exchanging valuable business information. One guest whose advice business owners sought out was Scott Sorrell, from Sales Adrenaline, whose seminar “How to charge higher prices and have your client thank you for it!” was doling out pearls of wisdom on creating higher profits. Scott also was picked during the filming of the show to ask a few questions of Congressman Rohrabacher.

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher grew up around Orange County and is known as the surfing congressman. His background also has a very serious side as a former reporter for the OC Register, senior speechwriter for Ronald Reagan at the White House and strong voice for lower government spending. His fiscal restraint position was very clear during the interview when he discussed the current government’s policy of spending $500 billion more than we take in. Congressman Rohrabacher said that it is important to “make sure we have those policies in place that owners can run their business.”

After the show was “in the can” Congressman Rohrabacher, wearing a sport coat plus his signature Hawaiian shirt and Puka shells, networked and mixed with the crowd addressing business owners concerns. Lisa Rodriguez, equestrian consultant, owner of Rosepine Ranch in Newport Beach and editor of Horse2Heart horse stories, asked the congressman’s advice on how to keep the equestrian industry in Orange County. Lisa is also an organizer for the largest equestrian Meetup in the county, the Orange County Horse Adventurers Meetup.

Congressman Rohrabacher acknowledged that horses are an important part of the county’s history and do have a positive economic impact. He suggested she work with county officials and other horse professionals to support this cause. Congressman Rohrabacher’s hometown, Huntington Beach, has one of the larger equestrian facilities in Orange County, Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center, and just over a year ago he had three hundred head of cattle driven down the beach in front of one of his favorite surf spots, the Huntington Beach pier, as part of the Orange County Fair’s Cowabunga theme.

When asked about how to bring an international level Equestrian Center to the Irvine Great Park the congressman in the true networking spirit offered some contacts that could help champion such an important cause as the Great Park Equestrian Center. According to the Orange County Great Park web site a study on this will take place in the future but needs public support. Give your feedback on “Keep Horses on the Ranch” to the Orange County Great Park. For more information on Great Park Equestrian Center visit The Equestrian Coalition of Orange County.

The Orange County Entrepreneur Community Meetup, (OCEC), under the guidance of organizer Michael Banks has been a breath of fresh air in the Orange County Venture Capital community. OCEC was founded in January 2003 and has seen very strong growth and is now the largest venture capital group in Southern California. This has been achieved by having dynamic interesting events and lots of strong networking. Michael has also managed to secure sponsors that add value such as American Express OPEN, Constant Contact, PR Newswire and Legal Zoom.

During the show Michael Banks explained that the, “OCEC is a business-networking group with a focus on business owners and entrepreneurs. It supplies members with a wide range of resources, referrals and advice.” He suggested Orange County business owners visit OCEC’s website for more information or to join.

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