1. POWER
STRUGGLE
A three-way race for Warner Bros.’ top job has
led to distrust and disharmony at the studio
Two years ago Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes
created an Office of the President to inspire three ambitious executives into collegial competition for the
top job at Warner Bros., Hollywood’s largest film and television studio. ¶ “These three will work as a unit,”
Bewkes declared. ¶ But the effort has inspired distrust and disharmony inside Warner Bros., the studio
known for Batman, Bugs Bunny and “The Big Bang Theory” as well as for its decades of management sta-
bility. ¶ The three competing candidates — Television Group President Bruce Rosenblum, Motion Pic-
tures Group President Jeff Robinov and Home Entertainment Group President Kevin Tsujihara — do not
work as a unit. They rarely meet as a trio or get involved in one another’s businesses, according to several
people associated with the studio who were not authorized to speak publicly. ¶ And although Bewkes said
anyone jockeying or politicking for the job of Warner Bros.’ chairman would [See Warner Bros., B8]
BY BEN FRITZ AND MEG JAMES >>>
Daniel Hertzberg For The Times
HOME OF
THE WEEK
A HISTORIC BLEND OF GLASS,
CONCRETE AND WOOD IN LA JOLLA
PAGE 10
BuSINESSS U N D AY , N O V E M B E R 11, 2 0 12 :: L AT I M E S . C O M / B U S I N E S S
B
Real Estate: New short-sale program offers relief. 9
HOW I MADE IT 2 :: THE FIVE 2 :: MONEY TALK 3 :: ASSOCIATIONS 11 :: HOUSING SCENE 12
Although a traditional-
style estate may not seem to
blend with Adam Levine’s
pop rock persona, the Ma-
roon 5 frontman and coach
on “The Voice” has bought
one in the Beverly Crest
area for $4.83 million.
The single-level ranch
house, white with long black
shutters and built in1940, is
set on a secluded 3.6 acres at
the end of a long brick drive-
way in a gated community.
The main home and guest-
house have a combined six
bedrooms, seven bath-
rooms and 6,539 square feet
of living space. There is a
swimming pool and a tennis
court.
Levine, 33, is the lead
singer and guitarist for the
Grammy-winning Maroon
5. He has worked with
Kanye West, Natasha Be-
dingfield and 50 Cent,
among others.
The singer-songwriter
has been a coach on “The
Voice” since 2011.
Josh Flagg of Rodeo
Realty was the listing agent.
Julie Jones of Sotheby’s
International Realty’s
HOT PROPERTY
Traditional style resonates
with musician Adam Levine
Carlo Allegri Associated Press
ADAM LEVINE has
bought a ranch house in
the Beverly Crest area
for $4.83 million. [See Hot property, B9]
LAUREN BEALE
Michael Hiltzik
His column does not
appear today.
SALES IN THE LAST 90 DAYS
vs. THE SAME PERIOD IN 2011
CURRENT
HOME SALES
14.7+ %
THEPARTNERSTRUST.COM
SAN MARINO
*2011/2012 Info provided by MLS iTech
Joanna Zimring Towne
thought refinancing her Al-
tadena home would be sim-
ple.
When Zimring Towne
and husband Andrew
Towne, a 48-year-old televi-
sion lighting technician,
bought the two-bedroom
home for $535,000 in 2006,
the appraiser valued it at
about $600,000.
During the November
2011 inspection, Towne
walked around the property
with the appraiser. The cou-
ple were being charged $500
by the management com-
pany that employed the ap-
praiser, but they considered
it a minor sacrifice, hoping
to reduce their mortgage
rate to 3.25% from 6.9%.
Then the valuation re-
port arrived a few days later,
and hope turned to anger.
“The appraiser spent
about 10 minutes in the
house, didn’t take photos
and gave us an appraisal of
$350,000,” said Zimring
Towne, 37, director of the ca-
reer services center at Los
Angeles’ Pierce College. Not
taken into account, she said,
was that “in this area, we
have tremendous [price]
variability within a mile ra-
dius.”
The appraisal process
has become a headache for
homeowners looking to se-
cure historically low interest
rates and buyers and sellers
hoping to reach property
deals.
More than a third of real
estate agents say they’ve re-
cently seen lower-than-ex-
pected appraisals hold back
home sales, even though
buyers and sellers had
reached agreement on price,
according to a survey by the
National Assn. of Realtors.
Of the agents surveyed,
11% said a contract was can-
celed and 9% said a contract
was delayed because of a low
valuation, the association
said.And15%saidtheyhada
contract renegotiated to a
lower sale price because of a
low appraisal valuation.
“The combined issues of
stringent mortgage lending
requirements and appraisal
frictions are hampering
otherwise qualified buyers
from purchasing a home in a
timely fashion and in some
cases are preventing them
from buying at all,” Law-
rence Yun, the Realtors
Home
value
can nix
a deal
Some potential buyers
and refinancers are
stymied by lower-than
expected appraisals.
By Michelle Hofmann
[See Appraisals, B8]
LABroadsheet_ 11-11-2012_ B_ 1_ B1_ LA_ 1_CMYK
TSet: 11-09-2012 21:04