Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

“Facebook Inc. is inching closer to an initial public offering that it hopes will value the company at more than $100 billion, according to people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal is reporting tonight.

“The social networking firm is now targeting a time frame of April to June 2012 for an initial public offering, said people familiar with the matter. The company is exploring raising $10 billion in its IPO—what would be one of the largest offerings ever—in a deal that might assign Facebook a $100 billion valuation, a number greater than twice that of such stalwarts as Hewlett-Packard Co. and 3M Co.

“Facebook is looking to go public between April and June 2012, with a possible filing by the end of this year.

“A Facebook IPO has been hotly anticipated for several years, and viewed as a defining moment for the latest Web investing boom. The company has been vague about whether it would even make such an offering and silent on timing of an IPO. ‘We’re not going to participate in speculation about an IPO,’ said Facebook spokesman Larry Yu.”

The rest of the article is here.

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We’ve been going to Cornish Christmas for years, dating back to the ’90s when my wife and I visited our in-laws who were raising their children in Grass Valley (and have since moved back; we tagged along this time).

While much of the focus has been on the event and vendors, I always liked how it helped showcase the town — the brick-and-mortar stores in historic buildings with colorful window displays and lights. That’s what makes the town unique and charming to visitors and locals.

This year, my wife and I remarked how you could see all the shops more clearly, because it wasn’t so jammed with vendor booths that blocked your view. Our magazine had a booth, to help promote tourism, and we took a short “dinner break” to eat at Taste of Thai and enjoy the window displays throughout town.

The wine tasting rooms have added a new dimension to downtown Grass Valley, Yuba Blue has expanded and there are new shops to see. Many of them reported strong sales at Cornish Christmas.

I like to think of Cornish Christmas as a “hook” that brings people into town, not just to see the vendor booths but to “rediscover” the downtown. It’s what the Downtown Association should be doing too: not generating revenue from vendor booths but helping the merchants succeed.

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I missed this announcement in The Union, but the newspaper’s parent — Swift Communications — has a new chairman of the board.

Bill Toler was elected chairman of Nevada-based Swift in November 2011, according to his biography on Swift’s website.

He replaces Arne Hoel, a longtime Swift chairman and CEO (and good friend of The Union’s editor/publisher). Hoel now is the owner/partner of Reno Buick GMC Cadillac, according to his profile on LinkedIn. He also is owner/partner of 1013 Communications.

The “changing of the guards” has been in the works for a few years. Toler had been Swift’s CEO, joining on Sept. 8, 2009, shortly after retiring from The Procter & Gamble Co. as vice president and general manager for global Oral Care Profession (Crest and Oral-B brands). Now he holds both the chairman and CEO titles. Toler has no newspaper experience — or media experience for that matter. More background is here.

“Bill developed his passion for envisioning and leading change during his 29 years with P&G,” according to Swift’s webiste.

The Union’s publisher reports to Bob Brown, president and COO of Swift. Brown reports to Toler.

Can we expect change at Swift? I would bet that we can.

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“Drone aircraft, best known for their role in hunting and destroying terrorist hide-outs in Afghanistan, may soon be coming to the skies near you,” according to the L.A. Times.

“Police agencies want drones for air support to spot runaway criminals. Utility companies believe they can help monitor oil, gas and water pipelines. Farmers think drones could aid in spraying their crops with pesticides.

‘”It’s going to happen,’ said Dan Elwell, vice president of civil aviation at the Aerospace Industries Assn. ‘Now it’s about figuring out how to safely assimilate the technology into national airspace.’

“That’s the job of the Federal Aviation Administration, which plans to propose new rules for the use of small drones in January, a first step toward integrating robotic aircraft into the nation’s skyways.

The rest of the article is here.

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“The sexual marketing of medical marijuana – with racy promotions that often trump the beer industry’s swimsuit models – is at the center of an uncomfortable debate in the medicinal cannabis community,” according to the Sacramento Bee.

“Fifteen years after California voters legalized use of medical marijuana amid images of ailing AIDS and cancer patients, pot dispensaries featuring ‘bikini budtenders’ suggest a different message: pot as a recreational pleasure.

‘”I’ve often said how offensive it is that we have naked girls with cannabis leaves or mini-mini-mini-skirts,’ said Lanette Davies, a Sacramento dispensary operator who condemns others in the industry for marketing sex. ‘That has nothing to do with medication.’

The rest of the article is here.

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