Best of 2007: Business
Television writer Mere Smith raises her fist in support of speakers as thousands of people march on Hollywood Boulevard to show solidarity during the Writers Guild of America strike. Writers walked off their jobs Nov. 5, virtually shutting down television production and throwing 10,000 people out of work. They are in a dispute with the major studios over how much guild members are paid when their work is distributed online. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)
Veterinarian Barry Baum of West Los Angeles examines a cat named Tess. Amid a move to raise the legal status of pets, experts say that if animals are regarded more like humans, there could be consequences beyond liability cases. For instance, owners might not have the right to euthanize a suffering pet. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Mazatlan is among the many cities in Mexico drawing aging U.S. baby boomers looking to buy retirement homes. Though prices are cheap compared with real estate north of the border, they are going up fast as demand increases. Mazatlan’s historical city center, where many ex-pats have purchased homes, is enjoying a revitalization. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)
Customers concerned about the stability of Countrywide Financial crowd its banking and investments office on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. The company has been hit hard by the sub-prime mortgage crisis. (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times)
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Grocery worker Axcel Flores holds his 9-month-old son, Miguel, as he votes at a union polling place in Burbank in July. Approval of a contract with the major chains averted a strike like the one in 2003-04 that lasted 141 days. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, left, and Executive Chairman Sumner Redstone share a light moment at Redstone’s mansion in Beverly Hills in September. Dauman’s 25-year relationship with Redstone, 84, is the key to his power at Viacom. It also increases the odds that he will be a force there after Redstone is gone. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Regular gasoline at the Shell station in Bridgeport, Calif., was selling for $4.09 a gallon in late November. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)
Novelist Clive Cussler, left, consults with attorney Bertram Fields in Los Angeles County Superior Court in February. Cussler and billionaire Philp Anschutz filed dueling lawsuits accusing each other of crippling the 2005 film “Sahara.” (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
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Joe Martin, 86, drives past some of the dozens of empty new houses that have been built in Salton City by optimistic developers. New homes can be had for less than $200,000 and, thanks to an oversupply, are getting cheaper. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)
Movie producer Brian Grazer. His ability to resurrect “American Gangster,” the real-life story of a Harlem drug king, after the film was killed by Universal Pictures because of a soaring budget, reflects the power that a handful of producers have in Hollywood. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
