Santa Ana’s SimpleTech Inc. has sold its consumer division to San Mateo-based Fabrik Inc. for $43 million and is changing its name to STEC Inc.
The flash memory maker’s president, cofounder and director, Mike Moshayedi, who had been in charge of the consumer unit, has left the company after 16 years. He also stepped down from the board and was replaced by Vahid Manian, a senior vice president at Irvine-based Broadcom Corp.
All other employees of the consumer unit are set to join Fabrik, according to STEC.
The company’s growth in the past few years has come from providing flash memory for industrial uses, Chief Financial Officer Dan Moses said in a conference call on Monday.
The consumer unit produced flash memory for digital cameras and other devices.
“Now with the divestiture of our low-margin consumer business to Fabrik, we believe we are now in a most advantageous position with management now able to focus its attention, time and resources on one major operation instead of being divided in two, diverse directions,” Moses said.
STEC is sitting on nearly $100 million, enabling it to look at acquisitions without having to offer additional shares, Moses said.
