Executives

WASHINGTON - Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana said they improved his strength and posture. Celebrity Kim Kardashian boasted they allowed her to ditch her personal trainer. But federal and state officials said the rocker-bottom Shape-ups and other toning shoes made by Skechers USA Inc. don't live up to the hype from the company and its high-profile endorsers. On Wednesday, the Manhattan Beach company agreed to pay $50 million to settle false-advertising allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of 44 states, including California, as well as the District of Columbia.

High-end outdoor clothier and gear maker Patagonia Inc. is out to prove that a company can generate strong sales while being nearly fanatical about environmental concerns. The Ventura company was the first major clothier to make fleece jackets out of recycled bottles. Nearly a third of the power for its headquarters and adjoining child-care center comes from solar. And it donates 1% of its sales to environmental causes. With Patagonia being a privately held company, its finances are not public, but it says it's riding a growth curve.

washington -- Mitt Romney twice emphasized his unique business background when he and eight other Republican presidential candidates faced off in a debate last week in Iowa. "I've spent the last, as I've told you, 25 years in the private sector," former Massachusetts Gov. Romney declared at one point. "I understand why jobs come and why jobs go. I've done business in 20 countries."

In a setback for federal regulators, a federal judge threw out many of the fraud allegations against former IndyMac Bancorp Chief Executive Michael W. Perry in a case stemming from the collapse of the onetime Pasadena mortgage lender. U.S. District Judge Manuel Real tossed five of seven public filings late Monday that had supported civil claims filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also ruled that Perry could not be forced to repay allegedly ill-gotten gains. Perry's lead attorney, Jean Veta of Covington & Burling in Washington, said the SEC suit "should never have been filed" and that she would contest the remaining accusations at a non-jury trial scheduled for June 26 before Real.

Often film sequels are slam dunks at the box office, a seamless continuation from where a previous hit left off. But as the new installment of the 15-year-old franchise "Men in Black" proves, getting to the big screen isn't always a cakewalk. One of the most troubled productions in recent Hollywood memory, Sony Pictures' latest movie in the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones sci-fi-comedy franchise encountered multiple script rewrites, a discontented star and a three-month production shutdown as writers and studio executives scrambled to fix a project that nearly fell apart . By the time it was over, the studio had run up a tab of nearly $250 million - making "Men in Black 3" one of the most expensive releases of the summer.

Want to fool merchants with a fake ID? Hack someone's text messages? Or how about tracking where your co-workers are, without their knowing it? There's an app for that. The explosion in smartphone and tablet applications that enable people to check the weather, follow their stocks and play Words With Friends has a dark side: apps that facilitate questionable if not outright illegal behavior. Apple's App Store, for example, offers Drivers License software that promises "unlimited access to realistic-looking licenses" for all 50 states.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration ordered tariffs of 31% and higher on solar panels imported from China, escalating a simmering trade dispute with China over a case that has sharply divided American interests in the growing clean-energy industry. The Commerce Department announced the stiff duties Thursday after making a preliminary finding that Chinese solar panel manufacturers "dumped" their goods - that is, sold them at below fair-market value. The widely anticipated ruling, if affirmed by U.S. trade officials this fall, is expected to have significant implications for both the global production of solar cells, now largely in China, and the growth of the solar energy industry in the U.S., which employs about 100,000 people in manufacturing, installation and services.

After defeating Voldemort and his Death Eaters in seven bestselling books and eight hit movies, Harry Potter is taking on perhaps his greatest challenge yet: boosting the Los Angeles economy. Universal Studios on Tuesday took the wraps off plans to build a Southern California version of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which drove a 68% increase in attendance at its Orlando theme park during the first three months of the year compared with the same period in 2010. Ron Meyer, Universal's president, said his company would spend "several hundred million dollars" to create the attraction, which is expected to include a re-creation of Hogwarts Castle along with Potter-themed rides, shops and restaurants.

Imagine tens of thousands of cycling fans gathered in front of Staples Center on Sunday morning for the final leg of the country's largest stage cycling race, the Amgen Tour of California. Now mix in 20,000 hockey fans, nearly all of them giddy in the anticipation of watching their underdog Kings clinch a berth in the Stanley Cup finals, and another 20,000 basketball fans, with the Clippers trying to reach the Western Conference finals for the first time. Those sports worlds will collide on the streets outside the arena Sunday; the Kings are scheduled to take on the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 4 of the NHL Western Conference finals at noon — about the same time some of the world's best cyclists will be barreling toward the finish line.

It's the old rich-get-richer story: If you need a job, you can't get one. But if you already have one, you get offers of more. Most executive search firms are besieged by out-of-work executives, said Paul Hawkinson, who publishes the Fordyce Letter, a newsletter for the executive recruiting industry. "But generally search firms aren't interested in those people. Those are the people who answer ads. Their resumes go everywhere on their own."

The newly formed SAG-AFTRA board of directors has confirmed David White as the merged union's sole national executive director. The national board of SAG-AFTRA voted overwhelmingly Sunday to select White for the job, approving a new three-year contract. White, the former Screen Actors Guild executive director, was expected to assume the new position as the chief administrative officer for the union of about 160,000 members. He had been serving as co-national executive director with former American Federation of Television and Radio Artists leader Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, who announced last month that she was resigning.

NEW YORK — Spanish-language media giant Univision Communications touted something that its English-language broadcast rivals cannot: Prime-time ratings at its flagship TV network, Univision, have grown 7% during the current season. Ratings gains in an era of shrinking TV audiences are uncommon as major broadcasters struggle to maintain their standing. Cable channels, social media and advances in technology — including digital video recorders — continue to nibble away at viewership, particularly among younger audiences.

Indiana Pacers President Larry Bird was voted the NBA's executive of the year on Wednesday, becoming the first person to win that award, plus the most valuable player and coach of the year honors. The Pacers went 42-24 and are tied 1-1 with Miami in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. Bird's moves to strengthen the team during the off-season included promoting Frank Vogel from interim to head coach and signing starting forward David West . He acquired point guard George Hill in a draft-night deal with San Antonio, and traded for Lou Amundson and Leandro Barbosa to fortify the bench for the Pacers, who earned the No. 3 seeding in the East and had the fifth-best record in the league.

Yahoo Inc.Chief Executive Scott Thompson resigned from the digital media company Sunday after a dissident shareholder called attention to his apparent misrepresentation of his college credentials. Ross Levinsohn, formerly Yahoo's executive vice president of the Americas region, was named interim chief executive, the company said in a statement. The board of directors also named Alfred Amoroso its new chairman. Amoroso, who is chief executive of Santa Clara software company Rovi Corp., replaces Yahoo board member Roy Bostock, the founder and chairman of Sealedge Investments.

WASHINGTON - JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon acknowledged Sunday that his company's $2-billion trading loss could empower government regulators seeking to place tighter controls on risky trades by large banks. "This is a very unfortunate and inopportune time to have had this kind of mistake," Dimon said in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory. But the head of America's largest bank brushed aside the suggestion that the loss underscored the persistent risk posed by mismanagement at large banks more than three years after a financial crisis that forced billions of dollars in taxpayer bailouts.

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Pitcher C.J. Wilson considers himself "straight edge," a subculture whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco and recreational drugs. Utility player Mark Trumbo would like the Angels to be more hard edge. Trumbo was fired up after Saturday's 4-2 win over the two-time defending American League-champion Rangers, and not just because he put the Angels ahead with a prodigious two-run homer in the fourth inning. He loved the way Wilson and four Angels relievers pitched aggressively and fearlessly to baseball's most potent lineup, and the way the Angels bounced back from Friday night's lopsided 10-3 loss.

Metrolink's board of directors on Friday hired a former railroad vice president with broad transportation experience to replace David R. Solow, the embattled chief executive who became controversial following the September 2008 Chatsworth crash. After a nationwide search for candidates, the commuter rail service selected John E. Fenton as its chief executive. The appointment will become effective April 16. Fenton's salary and benefits had not been finalized and were unavailable Friday.

How do you make a book about Apple interesting if it isn't about Steve Jobs? Adam Lashinsky, a senior editor at Fortune magazine, has taken on that difficult-sounding mission, with somewhat predictable results. Published by Business Plus, his effort to explain how the Apple machine really functions is like trying to lift the veil on a master conjurer's secrets: The humdrum mechanics that lie behind the tricks can never be as interesting as the magic. Yet even if it doesn't have the allure of Walter Isaacson's recent bestselling biography of Jobs, this book, "Inside Apple: The Secrets Behind the Past and Future Success of Steve Jobs's Iconic Brand," still starts out with a worthwhile goal.

The U-T San Diego newspaper is in talks to buy the daily Orange County Register. U-T Chief Executive John Lynch confirmed that executives at his newspaper, formerly known as the San Diego Union-Tribune, have "had discussions" with Irvine-based Freedom Communications, which owns the Register. But although several recent reports have suggested that a deal is nearing, Lynch stopped short of saying that. "Nothing is certain as we attempt to expand our holding in L.A. and O.C.," Lynch wrote in an e-mail.