Former CEOs debate future of the auto industry
Former Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Donald Petersen and auto quality guru Dave Power, founder and former CEO of J.D. Power and Associates, debated the future of the car business at California Lutheran University on Jan. 21. “The disease of, ‘how I am going to make my mark?’ is a devilish thing,” Petersen said. Read More →
Court wants Distenfield to pay legal bills
After a daylong trial Jan. 20, a bankruptcy court in Santa Barbara let stand an earlier ruling that Ira Distenfield aimed to deceive Los Angeles attorney Richard Lubetzky by concealing a stock sale and not paying $115,000 in legal fees related to the sale of We the People. U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Robin L. Riblet Read More →
County Commerce reports strong growth in 2009
On Jan. 20, Ventura-based County Commerce Bank released its year-end financial statement, which showed substantial growth in 2009. The bank’s net income was roughly $1 million for 2009, up from $901,000 in 2008. Capital increased 8.49 percent to $13.2 million in 2009 from $12.2 in 2008. During the 12-month period ending Dec. 31, 2009, assets Read More →
Breaking news update: Pacific Capital sells tax-refund loan program for $10M
Santa Barbara-based Pacific Capital Bancorp will get $10 million for a program that earned the banking firm hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade, a sum that will contribute only “a drop in the bucket” toward curing the bank’s capital woes, one analyst said. The stunningly low price makes the possibility of a Read More →
Chinese cyber attack suspected by Santa Barbara tech firm
A day after Internet giant Google said it might pull out of China because of massive cyber attacks from that country, the lawyers for a Santa Barbara software firm that recently sued the Chinese government said they had been hit by Trojan viruses from China. On Jan. 5, Cybersitter filed a lawsuit in federal court Read More →
Breaking news: Music festival company countersues
Twiin Productions, the firm behind the West Beach Music & Arts Festival in Santa Barbara, has fired back in a legal battle of band bookers taking place on the South Coast. In August, Jackie Kane, another concert organizer, sued Twiin. She alleged that she’d been frozen out of her share of the 2008 festival and Read More →
Breaking news: Deckers on the look-out for new headquarters
Goleta-based shoemaker Deckers Outdoor Corp. is looking for new digs in the Santa Barbara area. Deckers — producer of the Ugg boot, the Teva sandal and Simple brand of shoes — said Jan. 11 that it plans to move its corporate headquarters sometime in 2012. Currrently, the company is located on South Fairview Avenue in Read More →
