Recession
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, February 1st, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Recession
The faltering economy continued to devastate air travel totals in 2009, but one regional airport said the economic tailspin may have actually helped it in the long run. Year-to-date declines in tri-county passengers ranged from 25 percent in Oxnard to roughly 9 percent in Santa Barbara thanks to higher fuel costs, flight cutbacks and fewer Read More →
Distenfield takes stand in bankruptcy
By Stephen Nellis / Monday, February 1st, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Distenfield takes stand in bankruptcy
Ira and Linda Distenfield asked the American people to trust them with their legal documents. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, they built We the People, their discount legal filing business, into a nationwide chain of more than 1,000 stores. They garnered the endorsement of Rudy Giuliani and inked a deal to sell their Read More →
Investors hold breath as PCBC reports
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, January 25th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Investors hold breath as PCBC reports
With Pacific Capital Bancorp’s earnings call slated for Jan. 28, investors and analysts will be looking for clarity and answers now that the bank’s most likely fate is a merger. Failing that or a big infusion of capital, a regulatory seizure looms on the horizon. On Jan. 14, Pacific Capital, the parent of Santa Barbara Read More →
Donor in default on $75M gift
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, January 25th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Donor in default on $75M gift
Stephen Adams, owner of Affinity Group in Ventura and former owner of the failed Affinity Bank, appears to have defaulted on his $75 million gift to Westmont College, slamming the brakes on the school’s most ambitious building project in a quarter century. Though Westmont could not confirm it, Adams is believed to be the man Read More →
On an avocado Mission
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, January 25th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on On an avocado Mission
Oxnard-based Mission Produce is turning almost as green as its avocados. The avocado and asparagus distributor, which pulled in $226 million in revenue last year, is seeing shades of green in its future — of both the energy and monetary variety. Sales are strong, and with worldwide avocado supply projected to increase in the next Read More →
Inphi technology leads Web growth
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, January 18th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Inphi technology leads Web growth
Leaders at Westlake Village-based Inphi Corp. are jetting off to Tokyo to unveil a crucial component in achieving a ten-fold increase in the speed of the Internet backbone. Founded in 2001, Inphi has already shipped 100 million chips aimed at speeding up Internet communications and the servers that power the Web’s most popular sites. The Read More →
Regulators nixed pick for Oxnard bank
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, January 18th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Regulators nixed pick for Oxnard bank
Federal regulators had deep concerns about senior staff at Oxnard-based Banco BuenaVentura and took the uncommon step of explicitly barring founder and chief executive James Montgomery’s son Jeffrey from taking part in the bank’s management. Banco BuenaVentura was liquidated last year amid the worst crisis to hit the global banking industry since the Great Depression. Read More →
