| San Diego Business Journal

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.

John Cox

Staff Reporter

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