December job cuts hit 1,780 in region
Uncategorized[Editor’s Note: Clarification appended below.] Major private employers in the Tri-Counties cut 1,780 jobs from December through early January, more than 10 times the number of positions the region shed in the same period a year ago. The increase in job cuts was found in a Business Times review of state and local data and Read More →
Mentor sued over sale price
UncategorizedThe billion-dollar acquisition of Mentor Corp. has run into legal opposition from disappointed shareholders. Drug giant Johnson & Johnson on Dec. 1 offered to buy the Santa Barbara-based breast implant maker for $1.07 billion in cash, or $31 a share. The proposed acquisition was the largest deal involving a tri-county company in 2008. Within days, Read More →
Carpinteria lands big names in high-tech
UncategorizedWhile global markets experienced wild swings and volatility, the local commercial real estate market held up comparably well, according to Pacifica Commercial Realty’s fourth quarter review and market update, which was released to the Business Times. “Much of the intrinsic stability is attributable to three major factors,” wrote Broker and Executive Vice President Mark Mattingly Read More →
Reprogramming for 2009 – Tech companies learn from dot-com bust
UncategorizedHere’s a New Year’s resolution: survive the recession. With a year-old slump touching every part of the economy and showing little sign of letting up, technology companies are rethinking their strategies and learning from tough times they’ve weathered before. “It will sound trite, but we’re just like everyone. The challenge is keeping revenue up… (and) Read More →
Season of reckoning – State Street shops at risk as sales take a nosedive
UncategorizedAfter suffering a 50 percent drop in sales since last spring, Barbara Bartolomé doesn’t know how much longer she can keep her small business alive. For five years, Santa Barbara Scrapbooks, which she founded in 2003, had been chugging along in its downtown location a block away from the Paseo Nuevo shopping hub on Chapala Read More →
Wood & Bender merges with niche firm from the Big Apple
ColumnsThe “merge urge” has struck the Ventura County legal scene again. Wood & Bender, a 14-attorney firm based in Ventura, has merged with New York-based Anderson Kill & Olick, a 79-attorney firm. The Jan. 1 deal gives Northeast-based Anderson Kill, a former competitor to Wood & Bender, a California presence. The new California firm is Read More →
Mental Health Association builds hope, homes in Santa Barbara
ColumnsJust in time for the holidays, the Mental Health Association in Santa Barbara opened a new 113,000-square-foot living facility for people with mental disabilities. Through the persistence and generosity of numerous community members and organizations, MHA’s “Building Hope” program opened its doors in early December, offering what MHA Executive Director Annmarie Cameron calls “a comprehensive Read More →
