Chipmaker Microsemi Corp. has begun consolidating production and trimming some employees picked up in the recent buy of Canadian chipmaker Zarlink Semiconductor Inc.
The Aliso Viejo-based company cut about 50— mostly management employees—from Zarlink’s headquarters in Ottawa, according to a report earlier this month by the Ottawa Citizen.
A Microsemi spokesperson declined comment on the report.
Microsemi closed its $633 million buy of Zarlink in October, finalizing a rare hostile takeover that provided the company inroads in the communications and medical markets—key segments in its growth plan.
At the time of the deal Zarlink had about 500 employees.
Zarlink also has operations in California, Texas and Europe. The company had been a major employer in Ottawa’s technology sector for years. The recession took a toll, and the company shed more 350 positions between 2007 and this year, the Ottawa Citizen reported.
Microsemi now employs 265 locally and 3,123 companywide, according to a Business Journal list on the local chip industry published last month.
The Zarlink cuts don’t come as much of a surprise. Microsemi Chief Executive Jim Peterson has told shareholders and analysts he plans to trim $18 million to $20 million costs through the Zarlink deal. Earlier this year, the company consolidated several previous acquisitions and closed its operation in Scottsdale, Ariz., which had employed more than 250 people at full production.
Itonis Buy
An Irvine-based holding company has made its first acquisition as it strives to build a portfolio of high-growth companies.
Itonis Holdings Inc. bought Paramount Discoveries Inc., a scientific research company in Irvine, for an undisclosed sum late last month.
“We want to bring in companies that could bring high profit, high growth potential,” Itonis President and Chief Executive Mark Cheung said.
Paramount engineers are working on a technology that magnetizes certain elements and compounds that lack that characteristic in their natural state, according to Cheung. Potential applications—such as creating stronger paint that’s more resilient to chipping or desalinating water—could bring new opportunities in industrial research, military, mining and agricultural industries, Cheung said.
The company hopes to bring the technology to market by mid 2012 and sell licensing to various industries, Cheung said.
Cheung was part of an investment team that bought Itonis-essentially a public shell at the time-earlier this year as the former communications company teetered on collapse.
Norris Scores for Blizzard
Blizzard Entertainment Inc. has an online hit with a commercial featuring a grizzled Chuck Norris as an animated hunter fighting orcs and other World of Warcraft creatures.
The 30-second spot from the Irvine-based online game maker depicts the action movie and TV star kicking and punching his way to glory. Norris has cult-like status among 1980s aficionados and testosterone junkies, and one clip of the TV ad has garnered more than 9.3 million hits for a YouTube version.
“I’m Chuck Norris, and I approve this game,” the star says at the end of the spot.
Blizzard execs hope the bearded brawler brings new fans to its flagship franchise, which has seen subscription fizzle of late.
Blizzard saw revenue and operating profits drop in the third quarter, as World of Warcraft lost about 800,000 subscribers.
The company, a unit of Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc., posted revenue of $297 million, down 38% from a year earlier.
The company reported an operating profit of $120 million, down 51% from a year ago.
Blizzard did not release a game this year, which likely accounts for some of the declines in both sales and profit.
The loss of 800,000 subscribers for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm represented a 7% drop and left the game with 10.3 million subscribers at the end of the September quarter.
Blizzard’s customers pay about $40 for the game and $15 a month to play it online.
The game features two fictional races fighting for control of a fantasy world.
