Acacia Research Relocates to Newport Center
By ANDREW SIMONS
Technology investor and developer Acacia Research Corp. has relocated from Pasadena to Newport Beach, Chief Executive Paul Ryan said.
The company’s new space in Newport Center is about 7,000 square feet, roughly the same size as its Pasadena facility. The location is more convenient for many on Acacia’s staff who live in Orange County, including Ryan, he said. The company finished its move last week.
“The practical reason is that the majority live in the Newport area,” Ryan said. “It’s really a reflection of where the key executives live.”
With 23 people, Acacia is mostly key executives and attorneys, Ryan said. Acacia also counts a small business development team that looks for companies rich with patents. Acacia then makes investments to help the companies develop products out of their research.
“We’re an intellectual property firm,” Ryan said. “Most people don’t understand that a lot of companies make money from intellectual property.”
Even though the company hasn’t turned a profit yet, Acacia has managed to steer clear of debt and has nearly $89 million in cash at recent check. And the company’s losses have narrowed. In the September quarter, the latest available, the company lost $2.5 million compared to a $4.5 million loss in the June quarter and a $9.5 million loss in the March quarter.
The publicly traded company counts annual sales of about $30 million and a market value of about $200 million as of last week.
Part of Acacia’s turnabout is due to the company finally seeing money roll in from the licenses of its two subsidiaries,Acacia Media Technologies and CombiMatrix.
In the March quarter, the company saw $2.4 million in license revenue after it won a lawsuit against 10 TV set makers for patent violations of Acacia Media Technologies marquee product, the V-Chip.
Acacia Media Technologies has been a work in progress itself. The division comprises Soundview Technologies, the original designer of the V-Chip, and Acacia Media Technologies, which owns video-on-demand, audio-on-demand and streaming media patents.
Acacia Research bought Soundview last June and merged the company together with Acacia Media later in the year.
The two complement each other, Ryan said.
“We’ll begin making deals with these two companies’ patents,” Ryan said. “This is a very knowledgeable group of people.”
Ryan even brought in several executives from Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. to help Acacia get rolling, he said.
Most of the company’s attention is going to Seattle-based CombiMatrix Corp. The company makes microarrays, or chips that can perform thousands of genetic tests at a time.
CombiMatrix has about 40 patent applications pending for its technology and is gearing up for its own public offering, once the market for new issues comes back, Ryan said.
“(CombiMatrix) is in solid form for an IPO,” Ryan said.
The big guys have noticed. Roche Holdings AG recently struck a 15-year deal with CombiMatrix in which Roche will help with research into microarrays and then market the finished product.
Roche is set to pay royalties and fees to CombiMatrix in the first three years of the deal.
But if Acacia’s prospects are good, Wall Street hasn’t noticed. The company’s shares dipped and peaked in the past year and are down some 26% from a year ago. In the past two months, Acacia shares have fallen 27%.
