Newsletter: California Inc.: Your chance to buy a piece of Disney’s legacy
Welcome to California Inc., the weekly newsletter of the L.A. Times Business Section.
I’m Business columnist David Lazarus, and here’s a rundown of upcoming stories this week and the highlights of last week.
The stock market’s post-election rally ran out of steam last week, but there was some milestone economic news Friday: The unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade — 4.6% — as the economy added 178,000 net new jobs in November. The latest jobs report virtually assures that Federal Reserve officials will raise a key interest rate this month. One caveat: average hourly earnings slipped by 3 cents to $25.89, the first decline in nearly a year.
LOOKING AHEAD
Media merger? The leaders of CBS and Viacom will appear Monday on the same stage — but not at the same time — amid speculation that the two companies will merge. CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves and Viacom Acting CEO Robert Bakish will make separate appearances at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, and are likely to update investors on whether the two former corporate siblings will reunite.
Medicare deadline: If you’re covered by Medicare, Wednesday is the last day to choose a plan to help pay for treatment and prescription drugs in 2017. You can use an online tool at Medicare.gov to research the cost of your medications and determine how your out-of-pocket expenses will change next year. Costs can be sharply different. Some Medicare Advantage plans include extra perks, such as dental, vision and hearing benefits.
Disney sale: The last will and testament of Walt Disney will go up for sale in Calabasas on Friday as part of an auction of animation art and “Disneyana.” Profiles in History, the organizers of the auction, estimate the nine-page will and testament, from 1941, will sell for $40,000 to $60,000. Also for sale will be a 1953 document in which Walt Disney gives his company license to use his name in marketing and products. Other items include Disney costumes, artwork and props.
Federal funding: Congress faces a Friday deadline to pass a bill to keep the government running. Lawmakers failed to pass appropriation legislation before the new fiscal year began Oct. 1, avoiding a government shutdown by approving a temporary spending bill to keep public services operating until Friday. Republican leaders want to pass another short-term spending bill to extend existing funding levels into next spring.
Drone biz: The fast-growing business of building, selling and flying small unmanned aircraft will be the focus of the International Drone Expo being held Friday and Saturday at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Organizers expect at least 100 exhibitors and more than 3,500 buyers to attend. Sessions will address such topics as government regulation, using drones in film and television production, funding for start-ups and how to build your own flying craft.
THE AGENDA
Monday’s Business section settles down on the sofa to watch some sports. Last year, Americans spent 31 billion hours watching TV sports — a 40% increase from a decade ago. That means pay-TV distributors such as DirecTV and Charter Communications have written bigger and bigger checks for the rights to carry sports channels. But heading into 2017, it could be a new ball game. The high cost of sports programming has helped fuel the spike in cable bills, prompting customers to cut the cord. Now, pay-TV companies are pushing back against higher rights fees, fueling the kind of standoff that has kept the Dodgers Channel off the air.
STORY LINES
Here are some of the other stories that ran in the Times Business section in recent days that we’re continuing to follow:
Mnuchin tapped for Treasury: President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Steven Mnuchin, a wealthy Wall Street executive and Hollywood movie producer who served as his campaign finance chairman, to be the next Treasury secretary. Mnuchin’s selection drew ire from Democratic and consumer groups, which have accused him of profiting from the financial crisis by buying a failed Pasadena thrift in 2009 and rebuilding it into OneWest, a commercial bank later sold by his investment group for $3.4 billion.
Arbitration legislation: Wells Fargo customers who learned that bank employees opened accounts without their consent later discovered another problem when they tried to sue to recover lost fees. They couldn’t. The San Francisco-based bank says that clauses in contracts the customers signed when they opened legitimate accounts forced all disputes into private arbitration. Now, two federal lawmakers want to change that.
China’s clout: Pressure is mounting on the U.S. government to more closely scrutinize China’s growing ownership of Hollywood’s film industry, this time thanks to a leading Democrat. Senate Minority Leader-elect Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said China’s investments in U.S. industries, including film, deserve a more critical look from Washington regulators given the restrictions American companies and films face in penetrating the Chinese market.
Rigged gas prices? A consumer advocacy group contends that California refiners are holding down gasoline production to inflate prices at the pump. California prices remain at least 50 cents a gallon higher than in other areas of the country even though a major Southland refinery that was mostly shut down throughout 2015 is back in operation, says Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog.
Save Princess Peach! Nintendo-themed areas will open at Universal Studios Hollywood and theme parks in Orlando, Fla., and Japan over the next few years. Nintendo’s popular video games include “Super Mario Bros.” and “Donkey Kong,” and the “Pokémon” and “Legend of Zelda” series. The lands will feature multiple attractions, shops and restaurants. “You’ll feel as if you’re playing inside your favorite games — in real life,” Universal said on its blog.
WHAT WE’RE READING
And some recent stories from other publications that caught our eye:
Somebody’s watching me: Vanity Fair tells the tale of a grad student who came across spyware that could grab control of anyone’s iPhone. “It was a hacker’s dream: the ability to monitor a user’s communications in real time and also to turn on his microphone and record his conversations.”
Money for staying: Wired says people shouldn’t get excited about Trump helping prevent the air-conditioning company Carrier from moving jobs to Mexico even though workers and the community benefited. “What it’s not, though, is any indication that Trump has a sustainable and replicable plan to bring back American manufacturing jobs.”
Sculley redux: Fast Company relates how former Apple CEO John Sculley reinvented himself as a healthcare maven. “Like many others, Sculley believes the U.S. healthcare system is a mess. But rather than wait for policy makers to straighten it out, Sculley wants to improve things by driving inefficiencies out of the system.”
Brooklyn look: Quartz spots a new design trend — the Brooklyn look, as in, say, “Silver Lake is the Brooklyn of Los Angeles.” Such language “has become the global nomad’s shorthand for any town’s trendiest, most visually eclectic and often most clearly gentrifying area.”
Triumph over adversity: The New Yorker revisits Ivanka Trump’s 2009 self-help book “The Trump Card.” To address the silver-spoon question, the president-elect’s daughter “employs an audacious strategy: all of her advantages have actually been handicaps.”
SPARE CHANGE
Ivanka Trump’s “poor little rich girl” ploy brings to mind movies about the misery of being insanely rich. Think “Arthur,” or “The Game,” or “The Great Gatsby,” or even “Batman.” For more on Ivanka’s travails, check out the documentary “Born Rich.” Here’s a brief taste.
For the latest money news, go to www.latimes.com/business. Until next time, I’ll see you in the Business section.
David Lazarus’ column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
