California International Business Report

Club Penguin, a virtual world for kids, has been bought by the Walt Disney Company. The deal is valued at $700 million: $350 million in cash now, and another $350 million if performance targets are met through 2009, according to a report in Venture Beat. The company, based in British Columbia, has more than [...]

If this wasn’t so funny, it would be sad- or if it wasn’t so sad, it would be funny- I’m not sure which.  In any event, I thought America had an over-supply of right-wing political operatives- do we really need to import them?
The California Republican Party has decided no American is qualified to take one [...]

The D-Day Blog has weighed in on the Schwarzenegger Canada junket- and if you thought what we wrote was harsh this guy nails it:
This is about the eighth time I’ve seen a report similar to this one that undisclosed donors are financing a Schwarzenegger trade mission… The excuse put forth by the Governor’s spokespeople is [...]

Venture Beat reports that eBay has acquired StumbleUpon.  Seems like a good move- Stumble Upon is a fun and interesting community:
Auction giant eBay has acquired StumbleUpon, an San Francisco company that helps people “stumble upon” and share new sites related to their interests, for about $75 million.  In a statement this afternoon, eBay said the [...]

The Sacramento Bee has covered Governor Schwarzenegger’s three day mission to Canada, and noted that of the fifty-two business delegates on the trip “a third of those going represent interests that have donated to Schwarzenegger’s campaign”. As with his other “trade missions” this has been funded by the “California State Protocol Foundation” a [...]

“A solar power plant in the Great White North? Thin-film solar startup OptiSolar has signed a deal to build a 40-megawatt photovoltaic power station about 180 miles west of Toronto. The project, to be rolled out in 10-megawatt stages, will be - for the moment - the world’s largest PV power plant. Canada isn’t exactly [...]

Governor Schwarzenegger will lead a trade mission to Canada on May 29, 2007 and return May 31, 2007, his office announced today. The Governor will be visiting the cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, and his press release says he will focus on promoting California trade and tourism, discuss ways of reducing the effects of [...]

“British Columbia’s policy wonk premier headed down to California Thursday where he met with Hollywood action hero Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to plant the first seeds of what’s being billed as an ambitious Pacific Coast green plan. The Los Angeles meeting between Gordon Campbell and the Terminator was a private affair where the two political [...]

“Argon Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital investment firm, has announced the opening of its U.S. and Canada offices in Calgary, Alberta, and Silicon Valley, California. With two senior partner offices, Argon becomes the world’s first cross-border venture capital firm located in the U.S. and Western Canada. Argon will focus on early-stage opportunities in information [...]

This has got to be an ominous development. The LA Times has reported the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were forced to pull their recruitment ads after they appeared on Internet sites run by the notorious 18th Street gang, thought to be one of the largest and most violent gangs in the world. According [...]

“Shares in (Corona-based) Hansen Natural Corp. got a boost Monday on news the company partnered with PepsiCo Canada to bottle and distribute its popular line of energy drinks. Monster Energy, Lost Energy, Joker Mad Energy and other Hansen energy products which will be distributed through Pepsi’s network in Canada. PepsiCo will employ its bottling [...]

“The Boeing Co. and the Canadian government signed an agreement for four C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets. The freighters will be used by Canada’s Department of National Defence. One C-17 costs approximately $200 million and is built on Boeing’s production line in Long Beach.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has formally invited California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to visit Canada. Harper and Schwarzenegger met in December at the airport in Mexico, where they were both attending the inauguration of President Felipe Calderon. The governor told Harper he wanted to come to Canada on a trade mission and the prime minister [...]