Good morning! Welcome to KPCC's business blog, The Breakdown. Every weekday, our staff compiles a list of interesting stories in the region.
- The maker of popular hot sauce Sriracha considers moving its Irwindale factory to Texas (Press-Telegram). Irwindale's City Council had deemed Sriracha a "public nuisance," giving the company 90 days to address complaints about factory fumes (Associated Press).
- Irvine-based Opus Bank launched an IPO at $30 a share on Wednesday (Orange County Register).
- Gas prices have risen above $4 in L.A. County (Los Angeles Daily News). Bob van der Valk from the Bakken Oil Business Journal tells the Daily News that he believes prices won't fall below the $4 a gallon threshold until September.
- Boeing C-17 employees will vote on a contract that would give 300 workers "a chance to retire with their full medical benefits and pension," while potentially cutting the pensions of 80 other workers (Press-Telegram). Boeing plans to close the C-17 plant in Long Beach by mid-2015 (KPCC).
- Mattel posts an $11.2 million net loss in the first quarter, with Barbie sales down 14 percent (Wall Street Journal).
- L.A. film czar Ken Ziffren says he plans to get a bill to expand the state's film and TV tax credit program on the governor's desk by August (Variety). From the story: Ziffren has "also talked to Gov. Jerry Brown, a friend, and while Brown hasn’t thrown his support behind the legislation, Ziffren indicates he is further along than he was last fall, when Garcetti said the governor still needed to be convinced."
- Many Southern Californians pay more than 30 percent of their salary on rent (KPCC).
- Who knew that the letters "F" and "U" could be so controversial? The Motion Picture Association of America deemed the artwork for the film "Fed Up" as having offensive language, but later reversed its decision (Deadline). The artwork featured the letters "F" and "U" together.
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