John Cox
Staff Reporter
Phone: 858-277-6359 Extension: 3130
Recent Stories
Deal is Key Driver For Revenue, IOT
Twice in two weeks, with Broadcom Ltd. closing in on a hostile takeover, Qualcomm Inc. issued an urgent message to its shareholders: Don’t forget about NXP Semiconductors NV.
Qualcomm CEO Will Need Successes, Especially With NXP
Qualcomm Inc.’s recent shareholder vote tally does raise questions and flags, and that means there could be a change at the helm of the company — or not — depending on whom you ask.
U.S.-China Trade Dispute Comes at Bad Time For Qualcomm
Qualcomm Inc. looked almost like an arm of the government last month when President Donald Trump cited national security risk as his reason for halting the San Diego semiconductor company’s attempted takeover by Singapore-based Broadcom Corp.
Qualcomm Navigating Hazards of China Business
TECH: Politics, IP Disputes, Acquisition Muddle Dealings
Qualcomm Inc.’s footing in its most important market has gotten a little shakier lately as the Trump administration’s confrontation with China over intellectual property rights and national security threatens to disrupt two sets of negotiations vital to the company.
Intel’s Past Missteps May Be Motivating Its 5G Efforts
TECH: Company’s Past Actions Ceded 4G to Qualcomm
Don’t be surprised Intel is ramping up its wireless competition with Qualcomm. The shocker is why the two haven’t been at each other’s necks for years.
Qualcomm’s Next Chapter - TECH: Intel Ready to Take On Qualcomm For 5G Dominance
TECH: Intel Ready to Take On Qualcomm For 5G Dominance
Intel Corp. is coming after Qualcomm Inc. — years after, you might say — in the battle for mobile technology dominance.
CFO Awards Large Public Company : Executive Keeps ViaSat on Solid Financial Ground
SATELLITES: Duffy Navigates International Markets, New Segments
Probably every CFO gets something of a kick out of balancing profitability with industry-changing investments. But ViaSat Inc.’s Shawn Duffy gets a little more pumped up than most.
CFO Awards Small Public Company: Mission Drives Actions for Long-Term Success
BIOTECH: Hougen Finds Inspiration For Pursuit of Drug Development
The generally small rate of pharmaceuticals that ultimately make it to market means it can be pretty dismal working for a drug discovery and development company.
CFO Awards CFO OF THE YEAR: Exec Helps Credit Union Map Road to Future Success
FINANCE: Micale Manages Growth, Leads Strategic Plan
What a year 2017 was for Ashlee Micale, CFO and executive vice president at San Diego County Credit Union.
Qualcomm’s $100 Question
Co. Faces Many Challenges to Boost Languishing Stock Price, Fulfill Pledge to Stockholders
The San Diego chipmaking giant is preparing to face shareholders at its previously postponed annual shareholders meeting, scheduled for March 23.
Reed’s Retirement Puts Spotlight on Diversity
WORKFORCE: Sempra CEO Was Role Model and Mentor
Word this month that Debra Reed will soon retire as president and CEO of Sempra Energy is being received by local business leaders as good or not depending on how they view progress toward gender diversity in the top echelons of corporate leadership.
Health Care Heroes: Hospice Leader Works to Ensure Access to End of Life Care
TRANSITION: Jones Leads 4-Month Effort to Absorb Scripps Service
The Elizabeth Hospice President and CEO Jan Jones can’t bear the thought that someone might need her organization’s help but doesn’t know it’s available.
Health Care Heroes: Blood Bank Expands Scope to Include Research, Wellness
OPERATIONS: Wellis Broadens Approach to Mission of Saving Lives
It’s hard to argue with medical procedures that curtail the demand for blood. But consider what their advent means for blood banks.
Health Care Heroes: Alvarado Hospital Clinician Takes Outreach to New Levels
SERVICE: Graheck Extends Care to Staff, Patients and Families
Alvarado Hospital Medical Center clinical educator Anne Graheck saw to the details after a local mortuary brought an American flag to drape over a military veteran who had just died in the intensive care unit.
Sempra May Simply See A Good Buy in Oncor vs. An Expansion
UTILITY: Well-Managed Co. Could Help Diversify Earnings
Sempra Energy looks set to buy a utility operating in a state where demand for power is growing, within a region where it already owns significant energy infrastructure, adjacent to a foreign country where it has a strong industry foothold.
Marketers Find Promise, Peril in Diversification
MARKETING: Challenge to Find Expertise, Preserve Co. Culture
If it succeeds, diversification could boost an already sharp trajectory at Wonderist.
Taking The Global Initiative
Recent data show the San Diego region’s international trade has been expanding faster than the economy as a whole.
San Diego’s Innovation, Reputation Sell in International Market
TRADE: Product Exports Include Premium Goods, Technological Advances
When specialized lighting manufacturer FoxFury LLC goes to international trade shows, it never hurts to mention the company is based in San Diego County.
Trading In On Expertise
ECONOMY: Local Services Have Helped Double Region’s Exports, Expected to Overtake Products By 2020
It comes as no surprise to Chula Vista-based executive search firm The QualiFind Group that the San Diego region’s exports grew at a relatively fast clip during the past several years – because the company itself has been part of that growth.
Applications to 4-Year Universities Rise
As the economy reaches new highs, demand for higher education is climbing at San Diego’s major universities.
Discontinuing Education?
Pilot Programs Offering Job-Focused 4-Year Degrees at Junior Colleges Could Come to an End
Come May, as the first graduates of a California demonstration project receive four-year degrees from an otherwise two-year college, there’s a good chance state lawmakers will be deciding how many students should have the same opportunity.
Boating Sector’s Sales, Services Make Gains
MARINE: Recovery Is Expected to Stay the Course
A rising tide in recreational boating is lifting the fortunes of local yacht brokerages, marinas and support services that suffered during the recession.
Defense, Tourism, Taxes To Be Economic Pluses
ECONOMY: Affordable Housing Problem Still Drag on Growth
Local economists say the year ahead looks strong for San Diego County, with expansion on par with the moderate growth seen in 2017.
Sempra Betting on Its Power of Persuasion
ENERGY: Acquisition of Texas Utility Likely to Depend On Convincing State’s PUC
It wasn’t the sort of regulatory memo the head of a large public company looks forward to discussing on an earnings call. But the timing left Sempra Energy CEO Debra Reed little choice.
Synergy, Right Symbolism Required for Proper Naming of Schools
EDUCATION: Institutions Often Have Guidelines For Transformational Event
Despite its youthful 27 years, California State University San Marcos can boast philanthropist names on five of its facilities, including the library, the field house and the home of the business school.
Putting MBAs on Fast Track
Schools Consider Offering Accelerated Programs As Time and Career Concerns Weigh on Students
Nikhil Varaiya knows how to deal with students who complain it takes them too long to complete the Master of Business Administration program where he works at San Diego State University. “I’ve asked them, ‘Are you willing to go three semesters at 12 to 15 units a semester? That’s when they start to have some sort of hesitation,” said Varaiya, a finance professor at SDSU and director of its graduate business programs.
Craft Beer Attorney Taking Her Pursuits to National Level
LAW: Knowing Intricacies Of Beer Industry Makes Her an Asset to Brewers
Not long ago a California craft brewer with more passion than business know-how opted to launch without the benefit of legal assistance, and ended up wasting $1,000 on a patent because — who knew? — federal law forbids printing the word “strong” on a beer label.
Sporting Goods Co. Takes on Tech Support Role for Youth Leagues
RETAIL: Acquisitions Used To Build Digital Platform Which Tracks User Data
Inside a 16,000-square-foot space in downtown San Diego, members of a national all-star team are vying for the future of sporting goods retailing.
Medical Transportation Taps Ride-Sharing Tech
HEALTH: Predictive Software Delivers for Routine Transport
Sometimes there’s a specialized industry so ripe for advancement that all an innovator has to do is adapt technology that has already proved itself in the wider market.
Scripps, Qualcomm Prepare ACO Offering
HEALTH: Provider Invests in System; Partnership Is First for S.D.
Scripps Health’s recent agreement with Qualcomm Inc. to build and manage a customized medical network represents San Diego’s boldest step yet toward a Medicare-born model that holds health care providers financially accountable for lowering costs and improving care.
Shift to Components Drives Nortek Growth
HOME SECURITY: Company Becomes Key Supplier To Industry
When the wireless revolution hit the home security and automation industry several years ago, Carlsbad-based Nortek Security & Control LLC was confronted with more than just disruptive technology.
Recruitment Challenges Continue to Vex Innovation Employers
JOBS: Employees Have Leverage in Engineering, Skilled Manufacturing
The employer Matt Haver was recruiting for wouldn’t budge.
New Hospital to Meet Challenges, Change
Facility Is Boost to Kaiser’s Standing, Came In Under Budget
Kaiser Permanente has christened its first new hospital in the San Diego area since 1975, an $850 million facility in Kearny Mesa it says will better integrate care for its 610,000 local members.
San Diego County's March Median Home Price Hits $575,030
San Diego County homes sales rebounded in March, in line with seasonal patterns, as median closing prices for existing, single-family houses rose 2 percent month over month — or 5 percent from a year earlier — to $575,030.
County's March Median Home Price Hits $575,030
San Diego County homes sales rebounded in March, in line with seasonal patterns, as median closing prices for existing, single-family houses rose 2 percent month over month – or 5 percent from a year earlier – to $575,030.
Ligand Enters New License and Supply Agreement With Connecticut-Based Co.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to license one of its patented products for use in a Connecticut-based drugmaker’s intravenous medicine believed to helpful in controlling seizures and anxiety.
Initiative Would Give Nonprofit Role in Pursuing Productions
FILM: It Would Include Help in Production And Distribution
San Diego doesn’t easily double for other cities, but in the new Netflix series “Ingobernable,” Balboa Park’s Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and the tall shadows of downtown at night make for a convincing Mexico City.
No Days Off for Tourism
Drawing New Visitors, Building New Properties and Attractions Are Part of Keeping, Expanding Market
Things were already going well at the USS Midway Museum — yet another year of record attendance — when someone there noticed a detail that may point the way to future growth.
Sempra Updates Financial Outlook
Sempra Energy reaffirmed its 2017 guidance on earnings per share, while also projecting growth of 10 percent to 11 percent, on a compound annual basis, through 2021.
Petco Acquires Startup PetCoach
Petco has purchased Philadelphia-based startup PetCoach, a digital services company connecting pet owners with veterinary professionals, and hired its co-founder and CEO to be a senior executive at the San Diego-based specialty retailer.
WebMD Executive Named Chief Business Officer at Independa Inc.
Locally based remote engagement company Independa Inc. has hired a WebMD Health Corp. executive to serve as chief business officer.
Tealium Hopes to Be It in Tag Management
TECH: Co.’s Data Dexterity Makes Real Time Connections
Tealium isn’t its own verb quite yet, but in an age when basic internet functions can eventually take on the name of their dominant service provider, the San Diego-based customer data platform company may have as good a shot as any of its competitors.
LeanIn.Org Report Finds Women Paid 14% Less Than Men in San Diego
San Diego doesn’t have as far to go as the rest of the country to close the gender pay gap, according to organizers of a campaign aimed at bringing attention to pay disparities between men and women.
Promise Hospital of San Diego Is Closing; Mental Health Facility Planned for Location
Promise Hospital of San Diego, a long-term acute care facility that houses dozens and employs more than 250 people at 5550 University Ave., will soon close to make way for a mental health rehabilitation center.
Promise Hospital of San Diego to Close on April 30
Promise Hospital of San Diego, a long-term acute care facility that houses dozens and employs more than 250 people at 5550 University Ave., will soon close to make way for a mental health rehabilitation center.
Jack in the Box, DoorDash Expand Delivery Service
Locally-based restaurant company Jack in the Box Inc. announced the expansion of its partnership with tech-enabled delivery service DoorDash.
Economic Outlook Better Than Predicted, Survey Finds
In a welcome reversal, February gains in five of six local and national measures have prompted creators of a San Diego County economic index to throw out their earlier prediction employment will grow slower this year than it did in 2016.
Patrick Stuart Named President at Neyenesch Printers
One of San Diego’s largest family-owned printing companies, Neyenesch Printers, has hired an executive with software experience to be its new president.
Bay Area Nonprofit Leader Named CEO of Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego
The Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego has appointed a former nonprofit leader from the Bay Area to be its new president and CEO, filling a position that had been staffed on an interim basis for more than two years.
Sempra's Mexican Subsidiary Signs Contract For Solar Plant
Sempra Energy’s Mexican subsidiary has signed a 20-year contract to finance, build, operate and maintain a 110-megawatt photovoltaic solar plant that would supply a privately owned steelmaker.
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