NEWS OF THE WEEK

Stories in this week's

Orange County Business Journal

Vol. 34, No. 4

* TOP STORIES

CoreLogic Inc. Chief Financial Officer Anthony "Buddy" Piszel resigned from the Santa Ana-based mortgage and data services company amid legal issues from his prior job. Piszel is part of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe of McClean, Va.based Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac. He worked at Freddie Mac from late 2006 to late 2008, when the government-backed mortgage company was placed in conservatorship. Piszel stepped down from CoreLogic effective last week after receiving a Wells notice indicating regulators plan to recommend civil action. He and others will have a chance to respond before a final decision is taken. Piszel said he plans to fight any potential litigation. Piszel has been lauded for overseeing regulatory approvals and financing that paved the way for CoreLogic 's debut as a public company last year after splitting from Santa Ana's First American Corp. Michael Rasic, senior vice president of finance and accounting, is set to handle financial duties during a CFO search.

Gov. Jerry Brown canceled a deal with an investment group that offered $2.3 billion to buy 1 1 state office buildings that would be leased back to Sacramento. Irvine-based Spyglass Realty Partners is part of California First LLC, the group that won bidding on the buildings after former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger put them on the block to fill the state's $25 billion budget deficit. Leasing the buildings would cost the state the state $250 million to $ 1 .5 billion in next 30 years, according to Brown, who called the proposed sale a "gigantic loan."

* MEDIA

Bids for all or parts of Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc. could come as soon as the next few weeks, with a single deal or several expected to follow "not long after that," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times that cited unnamed executives at several media companies. Freedom - which owns the Orange County Register and other daily and weekly newspapers and TV stations around the country - is likely to sell off businesses on a piecemeal basis, according to reports.

* TECHNOLOGY

Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Co., the top maker of memory products for computers, made a roughly $3 million investment in Taiwanese chipmaker JMicron Technology Corp., according to legitreviews.com, a technology business website. Kingston uses JMicron 's chips in its solid state drives.

Irvine's Blizzard Entertainment Inc. set Oct. 21 and Oct. 22 as dates for its annual BlizzCon fan convention, which typically draws about 30,000 visitors to the Anaheim Convention Center. The convention highlights Blizzard's games, which are played by millions over the Internet. The company, part of Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc. - a unit of France's Vivendi SA - is Orange County's largest software maker with $1.3 billion in yearly sales and 2,000 workers here.

* FINANCE

Irvine's Hyundai Capital America, the finance arm of Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America, plans to move 7 1 jobs from customer service and collections to Dallas and Atlanta. Some employees will be offered the chance to relocate. Hyundai Capital employs about 500 at a number of offices here.

* AUTOMOTIVE

Irvine-based Fisker Automotive Inc. has raised $ 150 million from investors, taking the overall funding for the maker of hybrid luxury cars to more than $1 billion. Funding has come from a mix of private placements and a $529 million loan from the federal government. Fisker plans to debut its first vehicle, dubbed the Karma, later this year. The company is in the process of moving its headquarters from Irvine to Anaheim.

* CONSTRUCTION

Dharma Construction Services will move its headquarters from Costa Mesa to Louisville, Ky., where it plans to hire about 40 employees. Dharma plans keep an office and about 20 employees here. The company specializes in building senior healthcare facilities and said it's making the move to be closer to the corporate headquarters of several big players in that industry. The state of Kentucky provided more than $1 million in tax incentives spread over 10 years.

* AVIATION

Aircraft electronics maker Rockwell Collins Inc. plans to lay off 140 workers by summer at an Irvine plant. Cedar Rapids, Iowabased Rockwell Collins plans to shift work to Calexico, Mexicali and Florida. Some 1 50 people in Irvine are set to move to Rockwell Collins' operation in Tustin. The company, which makes electronics for commercial and military aircraft and in-flight entertainment systems for airlines, employs about 1 ,000 people here.

ECONOMIC INDICATOR

UP: Sales of business in Orange County, where 142 changed hands in January, nearly double a year earlier and the most since May 2009, according to BizBen.com, a website that specializes in business sales.