by The Editors on August 14, 2008
When knew that when video game giants Activision and Vivendi merged there would be some changes at Carlsbad-based video game developer High Moon Studios. We just didn’t know how deep the cuts went. According to Gamasutra they went nearly 30 percent deep.
The layoffs, which apparently consist of a notable portion — as many as 60 — but not a majority of the developer’s more than 150 staff, were telegraphed in the July 29th statement from new owner Activision.
Hope Carlsbadistan doesn’t loose too many of the talented minds behind Darkwatch and The Bourne Supremacy.
[Link: Gamasutra]
by The Editors on August 13, 2008
The San Diego Weekly Reader’s Don Bauder asked executive compensation expert Graef Crystal to “figure out how the remuneration of head bean counters at five large San Diego companies compared with pay of their counterparts elsewhere.”
Turns out Invitrogen’s CFO David Hoffmeister, who made $2.2 million last year, was “a bit ahead of what he should have made by Crystals reckoning.” But, according to Bauder, Invitrogen stock beat the market by 60 percent. Maybe that is why Invitrogen CEO Gregory Lucier (pictured right) is doing so well.
Gregory Lucier, in pulling down $29 million, made a whopping 583 percent above the market based on company size and pay risk, says Crystal. But the company’s stock has to meet certain future targets. Lucier is not supposed to get another award until the end of next year. Crystal tends to pooh-pooh such declarations, stating that boards of directors often forget that they said they wouldn’t dole out any more for a long period. “You grant it, I count it,” says Crystal.
As long as Lucier and Hoffmeister keep that stock climbing, we’re all good with whatever they are getting paid.
[Link: San Diego Weekly Reader]
by The Editors on August 13, 2008
On August 11, 2008 Carlsbadistan’s municipal golf course celebrated its one-year birthday. Hard to believe the City’s $74 million baby is growing up so fast. The press release from KemperSports was jubilant, but it’ is the Canyon Restaurant that Kemper seems most happy about.
In the past 12 months, The Crossings has hosted 57,980 rounds of golf, exceeding its initial projection of 56,775 rounds. About 40 percent of the golfers were Carlsbad residents, while roughly 30 percent were from the surrounding San Diego County area. . . . Averaging 183 customers a day during the first seven months of 2008, the Canyons Restaurant has exceeded its daily ala- carte revenue budget for the first 12 months of operations by more than $400,000. Highlighting the fact that The Crossings is more than just a golf course is that approximately 90 percent of the restaurant’s daily patrons were non-golfers from the local community and surrounding business parks.
Happy Birthday, Crossings, though to be truthful we’d much rather be celebrating the first year birthday of Carlsbadistan’s new skatepark.
[Link: The Crossings-at-Carlsbad]
by The Editors on August 13, 2008
Last night the Carlsbad City Council approved a plan from Strategic Property Services Advisers for a PF Chang’s Chinese Bistro and a two-story, 44,000 square foot “complex of boutique clothing shops” (including H&M) across the street from the Carlsbad Premium Outlet stores on Paseo del Norte, according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
“That area has been waiting for a good (project) … and it seems that they have found something,” Councilman Mark Packard said before the council’s 4-0 vote, with Councilwoman Julie Nygaard absent.
If we’re going to have another mall in Carlsbad, it might as well be there.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on August 12, 2008
For more than a week we’ve been getting news tips telling us that the Apple store at the Carlsbad Forum was opening on August 16, 2008. Being good journalists, however, we wanted to check with the Apple PR before we said anything. Let’s put it this way: we did get one out-of-office reply.
Now, it’s official. On August 16, 2008 at 10 AM the doors of the Carlsbad Apple store will open. Here’s what they said in their official email (which we did not get).
Come to the new Apple Store, Carlsbad, and bring your curiosity. It’s the place to test-drive any Mac or iPod, experience iPhone, and catch free workshops to learn all the latest tips and tricks. When you get there, find our Concierge in the orange shirt. The Concierge is your guide to everything from checking in for an appointment to instant checkout. And if you’re one of the first 1000 visitors, you’ll get a free Apple T-shirt.*
Today, we cruised by the store and peeked in through the doors on the front of the big black box. Inside we could see a completely kitted-out Apple store loaded with product and employees getting ready to start selling. If you’re like us, then we’ll probably see you in line early Saturday morning waiting for the free shirt.
[Link: Apple Store Carlsbad]
by The Editors on August 7, 2008
by The Editors on August 6, 2008
Transworld Media, the longtime Oceanside-based publisher of seven action sports magazines (including Skateboarding, Snowboarding, and Motocross magazines) is pulling up its business and moving to Carlsbadistan at 2052 Corte del Nogal according to a story in the North County Times.
It will be a big shift for Transworld, a popular niche publisher that has called Oceanside home since Larry Balma, a manufacturer of skateboard parts, started TransWorld Skateboarding magazine in 1983. . . .”It’s going to be kind of a hard thing” to see the Oceanside building shuttered, said Balma’s wife, Louise, a former Transworld employee and city planning commissioner. “But they’re going to a new building —- it’s going to be all fresh and clean, and everybody’s all excited.”
Welcome to Carlsbadistan. It’s about time you got out of the slums and moved uptown. Free stickers for everyone.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on August 5, 2008
Thanks to some investigational help from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms the fire that caused nearly $1 million in damages to Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza has been officially ruled accidental.
A natural gas leak sparked an explosion and fire that consumed the Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza on Avenida Encinas, just north of Palomar Airport Road, according to authorities.
Guess the economy hasn’t gotten that bad just yet. Phew!
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
by The Editors on July 28, 2008
Turns out that Google money we told you about last week was only a drop in the bucket. Thanks to Esenjay Investments, the Simons Family, and the Beall Family Trust the Carlsbad based electric motorcycle company has $24 million more to roll with, according to a story on c|net.com.
Aptera has set the end of this year for the release of its all-electric Typ-1, a two-seater, three-wheeled electric car whose streamlined shape might look at home in a Jetsons cartoon. Each street-legal vehicle would cost less than $30,000.
And if you want one: get on the list. The company has reportedly already accepted 3,000 $500 deposits for the 300 mpg vehicles.
[Link: c|net.com]
by The Editors on July 25, 2008
The corner of Roosevelt Street and Oak Avenue in Carlsbadistan’s downtown is getting an upgrade, according to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The proposed building, on the northwest corner of Roosevelt Street and Oak Avenue, is planned to have 2,400 square feet of shops on the ground floor and six condominiums on the upper two stories. . . . The property is one block south of Carlsbad Village Drive, the city’s downtown commercial artery. It is occupied by a business and four one-story residences, which will be torn down to make way for the new project.
Let’s hope they look good. You never know when the City Council approves of it.
[Link: San Diego Union-Tribune]
When knew that when video game giants Activision and Vivendi merged there would be some changes at Carlsbad-based video game developer High Moon Studios. We just didn’t know how deep the cuts went. According to Gamasutra they went nearly 30 percent deep.
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