BUSINESS
May 1, 2013 | By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times
DreamWorks Animation has a bunch of cavemen to thank for getting some fresh Wall Street love. Analysts responded positively to news that the Glendale studio had scored with its prehistoric feature "The Croods," which helped drive first-quarter profit to $5.6 million. The results sailed past Wall Street expectations. The unexpectedly good numbers coming from DreamWorks triggered investors to snap up the company's stock. After closing at $19.28 on Tuesday, shares climbed 7% in after-hours trading after the studio reported financial results.
BUSINESS
April 26, 2013 | By Chris O'Brien, Los Angeles Times
How strange to think that Vicki Macchiavello's decision to buy an iPhone after years of using a BlackBerry could be bad news for Apple. And yet, because the Oakland resident opted to buy a cheaper, older iPhone 4 rather than the latest, pricier iPhone 5, she represents a trend that has become a growing concern on Wall Street. In recent months, such an unusually large proportion of consumers are opting to buy older iPhone models that some analysts have begun to wonder whether Apple has lost its ability to create new versions that have enough dazzle to justify their high prices.
BUSINESS
April 17, 2013 | By Ricardo Lopez
Think Wall Street interns are the best paid? Think again. A recent survey by Glassdoor.com found that the highest-paid interns work for technology and oil companies. Taking the top spot is VMWare, a Palo Alto company that specializes in cloud computing. Its interns earn a monthly base pay of $6,704. Quiz: How much do you know about Google ? Assuming an intern works 40 hours a week, that translates to about $39 an hour. Not too shabby. Interns at EBay, the online auction retailer, were the next best paid, making $6,500 a month.
BUSINESS
April 9, 2013 | By Jim Puzzanghera
WASHINGTON -- Two lawmakers on Tuesday introduced legislation to break up banks that are deemed too big to fail, arguing taxpayers should not be faced again with bailing out firms that have become even larger since the financial crisis. "We have a situation now where Wall Street banks are not only too big to fail, they are too big to jail," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), noting that Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. recently said it was difficult to bring criminal charges in cases involving gigantic financial firms because of the risk to the economy.
BUSINESS
April 8, 2013 | By Jim Puzzanghera
WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Monday confirmed Mary Jo White to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, placing a tough former prosecutor in the role as Wall Street's top watchdog. White was confirmed by a unanimous voice vote in the Senate, an indication of broad bipartisan support. The Senate Banking Committee voted 22-1 to approve her nomination last month, with the only no vote coming from Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Brown has been critical of federal officials in general for not being tougher on Wall Street.
BUSINESS
March 29, 2013 | By Andrew Tangel, Los Angeles Times
NEW YORK - Preet Bharara, the man dubbed the new sheriff of Wall Street, notched another arrest in the government's vast insider trading probe. This time the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan nabbed a top portfolio manager at one of America's biggest hedge funds. SAC Capital Advisors' Michael Steinberg was led out of his Park Avenue apartment building in handcuffs early Friday morning. It's a major arrest at a fund that has long drawn government scrutiny. Bharara, 44, has carved out a reputation for being a tough prosecutor who has overseen some of the most high-profile white-collar criminal cases since the 1980s.