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The article focuses on Amgen chief executive officer, Kevin Sharer, and his management strategy. Since taking charge in April 2000, he has focused on radically remaking the Thousand Oaks, Calif., company while attempting not to upset its cherished biotech roots, a tricky balancing act that has created new stresses even as it has fixed old problems. The makeover embraces every aspect of Amgen's business, and has ushered in new people, new partners, and a new approach to the product pipeline. During the past three years, for example, Sharer has recruited a host of execs from buttoned-down pharmaceutical firms like Merck and Eli Lilly. And one of the most prominent new hires, whip-smart R&D chief Roger Perlmutter, has borrowed from the Big Pharma playbook to install a "command and control" approach to drug discovery that seeks to marry the free-form creativity of biotechs with the more traditional, calculating approach of their older rivals in the drug business. It's a new model--one that's being tested every day. But Amgen had no choice except to change. The biotech coasted through muchof the 1990s, living off the nearly $17 billion in sales generated by two blockbuster drugs it had launched at the start of the decade, the protein-based injectable drugs Epogen and Neupogen. With healthy profit margins, Amgen was converting plenty of those revenues into cash but very little of its R&D spending into the new products it needed to juice its easing growth. While overall R&D spending has doubled over the past decade, the number of new molecular entities launched has dropped by a third, according to the Center for Medicines Research.

The best gauge for the impact of the tough new market for home loans is Countrywide Financial, which is located in Calabasas, Calif. It's the only independent left in an industry now dominated by big, diversified banks. Countrywide covers every part of the mortgage spectrum. It originates home loans, provides servicing, trades mortgage-backed securities, sells title insurance, and even has a bank funded by the $14 billion in property tax and insurance payments that Countrywide holds in escrow for customers. Countrywide is by far the biggest and most overlooked beneficiary of the home-loan boom. It ranks as the second-largest home-loan provider in America, after Wells Fargo and ahead of Washington Mutual. This year the company and most analysts expect Countrywide to earn $1.9 billion. If Countrywide's market share stays about where it is now, which is quite possible, its earnings will drop 30% over the next couple of years; if it keeps waxing its rivals, its profits will suffer only a slight fall. The possibility of a 30% earnings drop sounds pretty bad, but it's disappointing only when measured against last year's peak. In the worst case, Countrywide's profits will remain far higher than they were in 2002, which was the previous record year. CEO Angelo Mozilo, 64, the butcher's son who co-founded Countrywide with $500,000 and three employees 34 years ago, has turned the industry's biggest trend--consolidation--to his advantage by not participating in it. Mozilo has exploited the upheaval caused by a raft of mergers to gain chunks of market share. Countrywide has picked up a slew of star salespeople who didn't like working for a new employer. How well Countrywide fares through the down cycle depends on how much of the earnings decline in new mortgages Mozilo can win back in servicing. INSET: Update.

In this article, the author asserts that in Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County, California) promising businesses rapidly attract capital and talent, but in big companies, ideas, capital, and talent are hindered by traditional bureaucracy. He says that if a company is going to gain more than its fair share of new wealth, it has to learn how to internalize the energy and ethos of the Valley, moving from resource allocation to resource attraction and from stewardship to entrepreneurship. Royal Dutch/Shell is presented as a company who has successfully made this shift, along with others. The distinction is made that real competition between the old economy and the new economy is occurring not between individual companies but between remarkably different regimes. INSETS: How Sun Nearly Torched Its Future;Virgin's Amazing Business-Making Machine;Spin-Ups, Not Spin-Outs.

The article focuses on Michael Lewis and the success of Cryptic Studios in San Jose, Calif., a hot shop founded and majority-owned by Lewis. Cryptic's massively multiplayer Internet game, City of Heroes, debuted in late April and has 180,000 users, adding 6,000 more newcomers every week. They pay $50 up front and $15 a month to design their own superheroes, arm them with an arsenal of mayhem machinery and pit them against a huge array of villains in the virtual Paragon City. Heroes is one of the fastest-growing online games ever. Lewis, who reaped $17 million selling a graphics-chip company a few years ago, figures Cryptic will be profitable by early 2005. "We're 30% over my wildest dreams," he says. Cryptic thereby defies a troubling trend: Internet games, first ballyhooed as the next big thing, have struggled. Electronic Arts dropped perhaps $30 million building, marketing and supporting Sims Online, but it drew at most 80,000 users, and the fad has faded. But when an online game hits, the riches pour in. Sony's EverQuest is the bestselling multiplayer game in the U.S.; it has 400,000 subscribers after five years. Lewis and his staff beat the odds by melding comic books, classical mythology and modern production techniques, and by fighting a few demons of their own on the way. Lewis spent $2.5 million of his own money, plus loans of $4.5 million from his distributor, the U.S. arm of South Korea game company NCsoft, to create City of Heroes. NCsoft is spending another $18 million a year to market and operate the game and provide customer support. INSET: A World for the Rest of Us.

Drop in on the Oakland, Calif. headquarters of Golden West Financial and you'll get a taste of a homespun, unassuming company under family control. Shortly into an interview at the thrift holding company, Marion Sandler, co-chief executive, pulls out a knitting needle and ball of yarn and picks up where she left off on a sweater for hubby, Herbert, the other co-chief executive. It's just the way it was 41 years ago, when the Sandlers, with a little financial help from Marion's brother Bernard Osher, paid $3.8 million to acquire a two-branch S&L in Oakland. Except that the thrift has grown a little bigger. Now Golden West has $80 billion in assets, making it the second-largest pure thrift after Washington Mutual. The Sandlers' stake is worth $1.8 billion. Osher's got another $695 million worth of the stock. Golden West gathers deposits and lends the money out as mortgages on modestly priced, single-family homes. Over the past decade the company has increased deposits at a 10.5% compound rate without the benefit of an acquisition, almost twice the rate of all banks and thrifts. The Sandlers have produced compound annual earnings-per-share growth of 20% over the last 35 years, a record that appears to be unmatched by any other financial firm, with the possible exception of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Golden West was the top performer among banks in the Forbes Best Managed Companies ranking, with a five-year annualized return of 26.6%, better than every other bank by almost half. Yet the couple still run the place as the nation's largest mom- and-pop shop.

The article discusses the significance and risks pertaining to public private partnerships (P3) in California. It provides information that P3 is a long-term partnership between a public entity and a private developer for a concessionaire's financing, construction and operation, and maintenance of public improvement work. It emphasizes the need of P3 to contribute in healthcare, judiciary, education and public amenities infrastructure of California.

The article reports on the financial performance of Exelixis Inc. in the third quarter ended September 30, 2011 in South San Francisco, California. It shows that the company's revenues for the quarter has increased to 128.3 million dollars, driven by the acceleration of deferred license revenue. It indicates that research and development (R&D) expenses has decreased to 37.5 million dollars, reflecting from the reduction in personnel costs, laboratory costs and general corporate costs.

The article reports on the financial performance of Gilead Sciences Inc., a Foster City, California-based biopharmaceutical company, for the first quarter of 2011. It notes that the company's product sales increased by four percent to a total of 1.86 billion dollars compared to the 1.79 billion dollars in 2010. However, it mentions that royalty, contract and other revenues from collaborations are down by 79 percent to 62.5 million dollars compared to the 297.8 million of 2010.

The article reports on the fiscal 2011 fourth-quarter and full-year financial results of San Francisco, California-based healthcare services and information technology company, McKesson Corp. For the fourth quarter, revenues were 28.9 billion dollars and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) earnings were 1.62 dollars per diluted share. Full year revenues were 112.1 billion dollars and fiscal 2011 cash flow was 2.3 billion dollars.

The article reports on financial results of Exelixis Inc., San Francisco, California-based biotechnology company, for the quarter ended March 31, 2011. Revenues for the quarter were 35.9 million dollars compared to 42.2 million dollars for the same quarter in 2010. Research and development expenses were 45.7 million dollars and general and administrative expenses were 9.2 million dollars.

The article reports on the announcement of Aradigm Corp. for its financial results for the 4th quarter which ended December 31, 2010 in Hayward, California. The company has recorded 144,000 U.S. dollars in revenue in the 4th quarter of 2010 while its total operating expenses were 3.2 million dollars compared to 3.3 million dollars in the fourth quarter of 2009. It notes that the decrease in operating expenses was because of the efforts to reduce expenses.

The article reports on the highest sales revenue to date acquired by security software manufacturer Voltage Security Inc. in Palo Alto, California. A 35% increase on the company's revenue and 70% growth on total contract value of deals were seen in the first half of the fiscal year 2009 which ended last July 31. Sathvik Krishnamurthy of Voltage Security Inc., says that their success reflects 3 benefits to their end-to-end data protection approach despite the global financial crisis.

The article presents information on the Silicon valley, Santa Clara County, California. This part of Northern California is historically the country's most important region for technology development. Ten to 15 years ago, San Jose and its neighboring cities were the headquarters for computer and chip manufacturers — hence the name Silicon Valley. Today that designation extends to any technological development on the 60-mile strip of land that starts in San Jose and travels north, ending near the Golden Gate Bridge. Venture capitalist Ann Winblad's firm helped launch 11 Valley startups in the past 14 months, including ActiveGrid Inc., which introduced an application server for grid computing in April, and Five9 Inc., whose virtual-call-center software automatically routes calls to centers with available capacity. INSET: SUCCESS STORY: Voltage emerges from class research.

Focuses on Blue Coat Systems, a computer security company, and its chief executive, Brian NeSmith. History of Blue Coat since 1997 when it started selling a caching server; Blue Coat's transformation with a server that increases Web speeds and watches for computer viruses, spam and spyware; Financial information and growth of the company that began in Seattle and moved to Silicon Valley; Information about NeSmith's company, Ipsilon Networks, that he sold to Nokia; The history of the original company, CacheFlow, and public offering in 1999; How he informed executives and employees about his decision for a proxy server.

The article focuses on entrepreneur Nicholas Gerber. He is a little too young to retire, but he is already thinking about how to sell the business he started nine years ago. It's the management company for Ameristock Mutual Fund, which has attracted $1.8 billion with a stellar record: up 14% a year since 1995, five points more than the market average. Gerber operates the company and does most of the stock picking from his home in Moraga, Calif. His lean operation makes a nice profit on below-normal management fees. Gerber says that when he floated the idea of selling the fund advisory firm three years ago, he was offered $30 million up front plus another $70 million if he stuck around until the assets rose to $5 billion. Gerber hit on a different cash-out scheme two years ago: turn another mutual fund into an operating company and have that entity buy out Ameristock Corp., his fund management company. While Gerber waits for money to arrive, he has kept himself busy doing much of what he would do with an operating company. Using the retained profits of the advisory business, he has invested millions of dollars in two tech startups. One of them, Gigabeam, recently filed to go public. This year he started an insurance company in Bermuda that will soon sell medical malpractice and workers' compensation coverage. His partners don't care that he uses their profits as play money, except for, Gerber notes, his father, who would like to see more profit distribution.

Working next to a sunny California beach, the casually dressed Jon A. Fosheim and Michael Kirby are removed from Wall Street in ways beyond geographical. The duo's 17-year-old research firm, Green Street Advisors, jams 12 analysts into modest quarters, pays them far less than the yearly $500,000 they could make elsewhere--and tells them not to shrink from slamming weak stocks they cover. Focused on real estate investment trusts, Green Street regularly rates 25% of its stocks a sell and 25% a buy. Compare that with equity analysts' assessments generally, as compiled by Thomson First Call: Just 10% of their recommendations are sells and 48% are buys. Green Street does no underwriting and never takes fees from any REIT, so covered companies can't bully it. With nothing other than research fees to support it, the Newport Beach, Calif. research boutique lives or dies by the skill of its analysts in separating good REIT stocks from bad ones. Green Street's buy and sell ratings are a simple matter of how a REIT's price compares to a price that the analysts think it ought to trade at. The latter comes from a complicated and, for the most part, objective analysis. Bear Stearns alumni Fosheim, 52, and Kirby, 42, have spent years refining the formula.

Discusses economic conditions in Silicon Valley, California. The same week Sun Microsystems announced 4,400 layoffs, United said it would shut down its San Francisco, California reservation center, Apple lost money for the first time in two years, and Intel, Motorola, and AMD reported poor earnings. A record 15 million square feet of commercial space is empty in San Francisco, where rents have dropped from $80 to $30 a square foot. Venture funding, is down 76 percent in the third quarter, to $1.7 billion, on pace toward its lowest total since 1993. While Porsche Boxsters and Audi TTs are selling briskly elsewhere, in the valley the Mini Cooper, starting at $16,000, is the hot car. Since the defense industry tanked in the early 1970s, the valley has gone through many cycles. Many executives see an upside ahead. Housing prices have risen and construction continues. People in the Valley are prepared for the next big push. Executives speculate that the future will be a fusion of biotech, nanotech, and information technology. China is creating foreign competition, and cities in the U.S., like Boston, Massachusetts, and San Diego, California, also provide competition.

Focuses on Calpine Corp., a San Jose, California-based, gas-fired power company. Plans of Calpine to build dozens of environmentally friendly power facilities; Performance of Calpine stock; Resistance of residents to having plants built in densely populated areas; Comments of Calpine chief executive Peter Cartwright.

Focuses on the earnings and revenue shortfalls of Silicon Valley, California technology companies, as of March, 2001. Companies that reported missed earnings, including Motorola, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco; Mention of layoffs and hiring freezes; Impact of Cisco's problems on the companies that manufacture its component; Speculation regarding the financial status of Oracle.

The article discusses the state of the venture capital industry in California in 1999. It is estimated that venture capitalists invested nearly $7 billion in 661 transactions in the second quarter of 1999. Information technology (IT) communications led the way in both the number of deals and the dollar value of those deals. As the pool of capital has expanded it has transformed the industry.

The top performer was American Cytogenetics. INSET: 1985's top performers by markets.;industry group percent....

Investment professionals were asked to choose from the list of California's 100 fastest growing companies to make stock selections for an investment portfolio. The big edge goes to high technology issues.

The article presents information on $338 million (sales) Standard Brands Paint Co. (SBP) of Torrance, California, which runs 129 stores in ten western states. The hot do-it-yourself market in home decorating is heating up further as interest rates fall. Home Depot Inc. is expanding fast; so are Kmart Corp.'s Builders Square Inc. warehouses. SBP is not in the spotlight. SBP has also been growing quickly. Trouble is, the company's gross margins are down, advertising is up and annual earnings are stalled around $1.50 a share. SBP is rich in real estate, however. It owns practically all its stores plus the land they are built on. It also owns its warehouses and manufacturing facilities (SBP makes paint and related products).

The article presents information on the performance of institutional investors in 1985, according to data generated by the Trust Universe Comparison Service (TUCS). TUCS, maintained by Santa Monica, California-based Wilshire Associates Inc., monitors more than 4,000 pension portfolios, a sample that represents approximately 20% of the estimated $1.3 trillion total U.S. pension assets. Institutions scored a median total return from all their investments of 7.4% in the second quarter. From equities alone, they earned 7.3%, compared with a 7.5% total return for the Wilshire index.

The article discusses Cobra Golf Inc. of Carlsbad, California, a golf club maker, which specializes in irons with oversized heads and graphite shafts. To the best of one's knowledge, nobody ever lost money overestimating the determination of Americans to lower their golf scores. Cobra Golf Inc. certainly hasn't. Number 19 on this year's list of the 200 Best Small Companies in America, Cobra Golf specializes in irons with oversized heads and graphite shafts--clubs that help most people knock a ball farther and straighter than with conventional clubs. Last year Cobra earned $7.7 million on revenues of $56 million. This year Robert C. Marvin, a securities analyst with Seidler Cos., expects Cobra's earnings to jump to $19 million on $112 million in sales. INSET: Golf gear capital of the world.

This article focuses on Wired Ventures Inc., a media company based in San Francisco, California. When Wired Ventures Inc. prepared to go public last year, even the most mundane details of the deal had to reflect the distinctiveness of the hip media company. Wired's initial public offering failed not once but twice. Prospective investors were leery of the red ink being generated by the company's far-flung operations. In the first half of 1996 alone, the company lost $35 million. By the time the humbled company found $21.5 million in badly needed private financing this January, it was valued at just $125 million, say sources familiar with the deal. That's a far cry from the $450 million valuation sought less than a year earlier.

The article considers the growth of savings and loan (S&L) in California in 1971. One of the large, publicly held S&L holding companies in the state is Home Savings of Los Angeles. The state-chartered, stockholder-owned associations were primarily involved in the merger activity in the sector. Broadened lending authority in S&L is expected to intensify competition with the banks.

The article reports on the financial performance of Geron Corp. for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011 in Menlo Park, California. It shows that the company's net loss is 19.5 million dollars, while revenues were 220,000 dollars, which include funding from collaboration agreements and royalty and license fee revenues under various agreements. It indicates that total operating expenses were 20.2 million dollars, which include research and development (R&D) expenses.

The article reports on the one million dollars grant received by AltaMed Health Services Corp. (AltaMed) from Blue Shield of California in Foster City, California. It states that the funding will be used to improve clinical integration with its Regional Accountable Care Network partner hospitals. AltaMed chief medical officer Martin Serota emphasizes the importance of payer/provider collaboration in achieving genuine care coordination.