Firms

Mobile payments company Payvia Inc. has acquired Mogreet, a Venice mobile marketing start-up. The companies declined to disclose the financial terms of the deal. The Mogreet team will join Los Angeles company Payvia, and Mogreet founder and Chief Executive James Citron will become Payvia's chief marketing officer. The combined company will have about 150 employees, most of them in L.A. Payvia offers direct carrier-billed mobile payments, meaning customers who use Payvia to buy an item from their mobile devices see the charge directly on their phone bills, eliminating the need to type in a credit card number for a purchase.

A San Fernando Valley jeweler at the center of an insider-trading scandal pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and agreed to turn over $1.27 million in ill-gotten stock gains made from tips from a top auditor at accounting giant KPMG. Bryan Shaw, 52, of Lake Sherwood admitted Monday to conspiring with KPMG auditor Scott London to trade in the stocks of the accounting firm's clients. The pair, who became friends after meeting on a golf course, plotted to profit from the market in what federal prosecutors described as a "severe breach of trust.

When Google went public in 2004 for $85 a share, I wrote a column questioning such a high valuation for a company built on a math equation. Wasn't it inevitable that someone would come along with a better search algorithm? Google closed Monday at $908.53 a share. So take what I'm about to say with a pinch of cyber-salt. Yahoo is paying $1.1 billion for the blogging service Tumblr, which enjoys a loyal following among millions of young, cool, edgy and influential users, but little, if any, profit.

Voters Tuesday trickled into St. Paul's Presbysterian church in South L.A. to cast their ballots after a torrent of campaign advertisements and  record-breaking spending in the race for mayor of Los Angeles.  Many arrived with firm opinions and researched notes in hand. Beverly Galloway, 72, of Baldwin Vista said she voted for Wendy Greuel. "I felt that she was honest, a leader that can't be dictated to,” Galloway said. “I watched the debates, and I was impressed. " PHOTOS: L.A. voters head to the polls Forrest Jackson, 68, of Baldwin Hills, also said he voted for Wendy Greuel.

SACRAMENTO -- Mexican telecom billionaire Carlos Slim is punching back at an advocacy group that's been criticizing him across the country and on the steps of the California Capitol building. Slim's Miami-based subsidiary, TracFone Wireless Inc., on Monday filed a complaint with California's political watchdog agency against an organization called Two Countries One Voice. The group has been protesting and pressing for legislation that could slow the expansion of TracFone's pre-paid cellphone network in the United States.

Mobile payments company Payvia announced Monday that it had acquired Mogreet, a Venice mobile marketing start-up. Payvia, based in L.A., said the deal would create a simplified all-in-one platform that enables companies to target consumers and provide them with a way to buy goods directly from their mobile devices. The company is also hoping to decrease the high rate of shopping cart abandonment - roughly 97% - that occurs on mobile devices. "Our clients have told us they also need a simpler way to link targeted mobile transactions to their marketing campaigns," said Darcy Wedd, chief executive of Payvia.

Another tragedy at a Bangladesh clothing factory, another announcement by Wal-Mart about additional steps it will take to beef up worker safety, this time by inspecting all of its suppliers' facilities itself. Not that the retailing giant hasn't made real efforts already to improve employee safety in notoriously bad factories overseas, but the deaths of more than 1,100 people at the Rana Plaza factory last month should signal that a piecemeal, go-it-alone approach is insufficient, even for the biggest retailer in the world.

As if you didn't know this already, we're coddling criminals in America. By that I don't mean the petty drug dealers, three-strikes necklace-snatchers and other mooks filling up our state prisons; many of them are doing hard time. I'm talking about people like Jeff Skilling. Skilling, you may recall, was a key architect of the rise and fall of the energy and commodities trading firm Enron, which around the beginning of the last decade claimed the trophy for the biggest securities fraud of all time.

Skincare giant Murad Inc. will relocate its global headquarters to another location in El Segundo in a $35-million move. The maker of beauty and health products sold in 41 countries agreed to lease 45,000 square feet in Continental Park, an office and retail complex near Los Angeles International Airport. “We are growing in size,” General Manager Richard Murad said, adding 50% more space than it has in its current offices nearby. The company will have about 350 employees in its headquarters when it moves from Rosecrans Avenue to 2121 Park Place early next year.

Advertising company Lamar sued the city of Los Angeles two months ago, demanding the right to install new digital billboards in such neighborhoods as Sherman Oaks, Silver Lake, Glassell Park and the Fairfax district. Lamar's involvement in city politics did not stop there. Since it filed that lawsuit, the company has financed scores of billboards for candidates in the May 21 election - 100 for mayoral hopeful Wendy Greuel, 100 for city controller candidate Dennis Zine and 20 apiece for City Council candidates Curren Price, Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo.