The biggest foreign-owned companies in Orange County employ just more than 27,000 workers here, a decrease of about 1% from a year earlier.
This week’s Business Journal list features 36 foreign-owned companies with regional headquarters or significant operations here. They combined for a headcount of 27,123 as of December, down 148 year-over-year.
The group lagged the overall employment growth in Orange County in 2014, when businesses added some 32,000 jobs for a 2% growth to 1.5 million.
• Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. topped the list again with 2,219 employees here, according to a Business Journal estimate. That was a 17% drop from 2013 for the maker of sunglasses, goggles and accessories. Oakley is owned by Milan, Italy-based Luxottica Group SPA, which also owns the Chanel, Coach, Prada and Ray-Ban brands.
• Blizzard Entertainment Inc., No. 2 last year with about 1,900 employees, dropped off the list following a change in ownership from Paris-based Vivendi SA to Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard Inc. Activision, whose majority stake had been owned by Vivendi, bought itself out in October 2013 in a joint effort by the company and an investment group.
Blizzard employs about 2,000 in Irvine, where it has been since a move from Costa Mesa in 1995.
• Panasonic Avionics Corp. moved up to No. 2 by way of Blizzard’s exclusion, with 1,878 employees, up about 15%. The company operates its audio and video systems units for commercial aircraft in Lake Forest.
About a third of the companies on the list have parents in Japan, including Panasonic Avionics, whose parent, Panasonic Corp., has its headquarters in Kadoma.
Other OC companies with Japanese parents include Union Bank, which is owned by Tokyo-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. Mitsubishi in July combined Union Bank with the U.S. operations of its Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.
• Union Bank ranked No. 5, with 1,423 employees in Orange County, down about 8%.
• Tustin-based medical device maker MicroVention Inc., owned by Tokyo-based Terumo Corp., has an estimated 800 employees here, good for No. 12 on the list.
It makes products to treat cerebral aneurysms and other neurovascular diseases and has distributors and other operations in various countries, including France, Germany and the U.K. The company began in 1997 in Aliso Viejo, was acquired by Terumo in 2006, and moved to Tustin in 2008.
Yamaha
• Yamaha Corporation of America—the U.S. business of Hamamatsu-based Yamaha Corp.—had 334 employees in OC, good for the No. 28 spot. Its U.S. headquarters in Buena Park handles sales and marketing of the company’s musical instruments, including keyboards and strings. Yamaha Corporation of America also operates a commercial audio division here that focuses on large systems and installation services, and an audio-visual division focused on home theater products.
Five companies on the list track back to corporate parents in France, including No. 9, Thales Avionics Inc., which increased its Orange County workforce by 16% last year, adding 149 for a total of 1,100. The company has its in-flight entertainment systems unit in Irvine and is part of the Thales Group in France.
Locally based Thales spokesperson Lori Krans said the in-flight entertainment and connectivity market “is growing as a result of the strong demand for new Boeing and Airbus commercial aircraft.”
“The market is changing due to advances in technology, which impact passenger needs and expectations,” Krans said. “These points in combination with an increasing number of aircraft taking to the sky with the Thales system are reasons why Thales is hiring. Today, Thales in OC is a major exporter delivering [in-flight entertainment] systems to over 80 world airlines.”
• Bank of the West, part of BNP Paribas SA in Paris, is No. 35 with 241 workers, down 2% year-over-year.
A number of automobile companies made the list, including Hyundai Motor America, which ranked No. 10 with 1,007 employees. Hyundai Motor has its headquarters in Fountain Valley and is part of Hyundai Kia Automotive Group in Seoul, South Korea, which also owns Kia Motors America Inc.
• Irvine-based Kia is No. 29 on the list, with 300 employees.
Other automakers include Mazda North American Operations, whose design and marketing units are in Irvine. The company, No. 22 on the list, is owned by Mazda Motor Corp. in Hiroshima.
Israeli Companies
Two Israeli companies are on the list:
• Newport Beach-based integrated circuits manufacturer TowerJazz—part of Migdal Haemek-based Tower Semiconductor Ltd.—is No. 13 with 725 workers here.
• Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. is No. 23, with 429 employees in its Irvine facility, which is part of its drug operations in Pennsylvania. Teva is owned by Petach Tikva-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
• This year’s sole newcomer, Asics America Corp., debuted at No. 33 with 297 local employees, about an 11% drop year-over-year. Asics America is part of Asics Corp. in Kobe, Japan.
