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Oakley Leads Job Gain at Largest Foreign-Owned Companies

Download the 2011 OC’s FOREIGN-OWNED COs List (pdf)

Sunglasses and clothing maker Oakley Inc. drove hiring in the past year among the county’s largest foreign-owned companies.

The Foothill Ranch-based company, part of Italy’s Luxottica Group SPA, added nearly 450 jobs here in the past year for a total of 2,110 workers, topping our list.

Most of the hires were at Oakley’s glasses plant next to its headquarters, according to Caroline Kenyon, vice president of human resources.

“Our business has been growing steadily,” she said. “As our sales grow, we need to produce more products. We are fortunate that Oakley is so well-regarded. We are one of the few (companies) out there that is hiring at this rate.”

Luxottica, which also owns Chanel, Prada, Ray-Ban, Dolce & Gabbana, Tiffany, Burberry and others, doesn’t break out sales for Oakley.

The company had about $1 billion in sales when it was acquired in 2007.

Oakley earned a shout out from Luxottica Chief Executive Andrea Guerra in the company’s earnings report last week.

“Worthy of mention are the performances of two extraordinary brands—Ray-Ban and Oakley,” Guerra said in a statement.

Luxottica’s fourth-quarter revenue rose 16% to $1.8 billion, largely on strong demand from the U.S. and Asia.

The list—always a tough one to compile—ranks the 40 largest foreign-owned companies here by local workers.

Twelve companies on the list showed an uptick in hiring in the past year. Eight companies cut jobs. Three were flat. Seventeen were Business Journal estimates.

Gain on Jobs

Combined, the companies posted a 2% rise in local employees to 27,513 people.

Oakley accounted for most of the gain. Without Oakley, the 39 other companies were up half a percent from a year earlier.

Japanese companies again led the list with 13 entries. There were seven companies from Britain, four from France, three from Germany and two each from Taiwan, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Israel.

There was one company each from Italy, Ireland, South Korea, Iceland and Australia.

No. 2 Irvine’s Blizzard Entertainment Inc., the top maker of online games and a unit of France’s Vivendi SA, is close on Oakley’s heels with an estimated 2,100 workers here.

The company had a big 2010, with two big video game releases that shattered previous sales records.

Blizzard expanded its local operations last year with a lease for some 100,000 square feet of extra space in two buildings adjacent to its campus.

The company, which sees some $1.3 billion in yearly revenue, continues to hire. It has about 130 open positions on its website, some for the development of a new game.

No. 3 Union Bank, part of Tokyo’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., recently underwent a reshuffle in which it hired or promoted some 20 executives, according to Lawrence Henry, senior vice president and market president.

The company has 1,590 workers here, up more than 16% from a year earlier.

It’s also adding branches here.

“We recently opened branch offices in Costa Mesa, Villa Park and are scheduled to open a full-service branch office in Corona del Mar on Feb. 7,” Henry said.

No. 16 Irvine’s Billabong USA, part of Australia’s Billabong International Ltd., has grown its local workforce with a buying spree in the past two years.

Late last year, it bought Canadian retailer West 49 for $93 billion in a deal that more than doubled Billabong’s North American stores to 230.

In July, it bought Costa Mesa’s Rvca Clothing for undisclosed terms.

In May, Billabong bought Torrance-based Becker Surf & Sport, which runs four Orange County stores.

Billabong, which makes clothes and other products under its own name and other brands, has an estimated 650 workers here, up from 600 a year ago.

No. 26 Sage Software Inc., the Irvine-based North American unit of Britain’s Sage Group PLC, landed a new chief executive this year after several years of restructuring.

The maker of business software tapped Pascal Houillon after outgoing leader Sue Swenson announced her retirement in December.

Sage has 369 workers here, down 7% from a year earlier.

No. 31 Britain’s Tesco PLC, which owns the Fresh & Easy grocery chain, has an estimated 300 workers here, up from 275 a year ago.

There are about a dozen Fresh & Easy stores in the county, with two slated to open next week in Costa Mesa and Lake Forest.

Download the 2011 OC’s FOREIGN-OWNED COs List (pdf)

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