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In an open letter, the owners Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman explain that they can’t pay San Francisco’s new $15 minimum wage (a minimum wage that they support). That increase will raise their payroll costs by 39% and their overall costs by 18% — and since they can’t raise the cost of their books (because they’re pre-priced, and retail priced books are already a tough sell in the age of Amazon), the only way they could cover the increase would be to stop paying themselves, or fire almost everyone and work insane hours. The cafe attached the store will stay open for the foreseeable, since those prices are flexible and can be raised to account for their increased overheads.

Also, as announced last week, it has moved its headquarters from the Cahuenga Pass to Austin, Texas. The Digital Turbine subsidiary already had offices in Austin.

The company expects to grow by a factor of more than 12 to more than 300 employees by 2018.

Wells Fargo’s stock-market cap hit $285.5 billion on Dec. 5, based on 5.19 billion shares outstanding as of Oct. 31, according to Bloomberg News.

Google Inc. has cemented a pair of massive real estate deals in Sunnyvale and Redwood City that boost the company’s Silicon Valley footprint by 2.8 million square feet – about the size of the Empire State Building and enough room for more than 10,000 workers.

Chevron traces its history to 1879 when Pacific Coast Oil Co. was founded. It was bought, in 1900, by the vast industrial empire of the Standard Oil Co. & Trust, which once controlled almost all oil production, processing, marketing and transportation in the United States.

Most believe California has reacted slowly to being regarded as one of the most anti-business environments in the country. The simple fact that California initially was not even on the short list should give folks in Sacramento heartburn!

The plant pays an average wage of $24 an hour, plus benefits. The region is losing very good middle-class jobs, said Antonio Castro, president of Local 59G of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union.

A decade ago, nearly 4,000 apparel-making sites operated in Los Angeles County, according to government figures. Fewer than 2,200 remain. Employment has plunged from 90,200 in 1990 to 46,000 last year.

Drone manufacturer Ashima Devices announced Tuesday that it will move its headquarters from Pasadena, Calif., to Reno, Nev., and is expected to bring about 400 jobs with it.

Amazon is hiring for 200 more permanent jobs in its Tracy distribution center, according to KCRA-TV Channel 3.

A spokeswoman declined to disclose how many layoffs would occur in Silicon Valley. Cisco, which is San Jose’s biggest employer, has been steadily selling off office buildings and land holdings over the last couple of years as it has shrunk headcount.

With almost no debate, the state Assembly on Monday unanimously approved a nearly half-a-billion dollar potential tax credit for Northrop Grumman Corp. should it win a new Air Force bomber contract and build the aircraft in California.

Glendale-based Nestle USA is closing its Chatsworth Hot Pockets plant and moving the work to its operation in Mount Sterling, Ky., investing $13 million in expanding the facility and hiring 150 workers.

Both Chevron and its detractors claimed at least partial victory Wednesday, after city leaders approved the oil giant’s long-sought effort to begin a $1 billion upgrade of its century-old refinery, the largest in Northern California.