Aliso Viejo-based chipmaker Microsemi Corp. has begun unloading unwanted business units acquired in its $2.5 billion buy of PMC-Sierra Inc. in January.
The company sold assets and certain liabilities related to its Broadband Wireless Division to MaxLinear Inc. in Carlsbad for $21 million. The sale included RF transceivers and synthesizers for 3G, 4G, and future 5G cellular base stations and remote radio head systems.
Microsemi, a frequent buyer under Chief Executive James Peterson, has been known to waste little time in unloading assets and employees after acquisitions (see related OC50 entry in special section insert).
The recent sale is its second divestiture in a little over a month. It sold a secondary business line of embedded security, RF, microwave and custom microelectronics in late March for $300 million to Massachusetts-based Mercury Systems Inc., shedding about about 275 employees in Camarillo, San Jose, Phoenix, and West Lafayette, Ind.
Microsemi became OC’s largest local chipmaker after Avago Technologies Inc. in February acquired Broadcom Corp. in Irvine for $37 billion. The combined company, known as Broadcom Ltd. is based in Singapore, and has its U.S. headquarters in San Jose.
Microsemi provided a recent outlook for the current quarter that’s below Wall Street expectations. It projects revenue of $420 million to $440 million, below forecasts of about $466 million, and adjusted profits at $77.5 million to $84.3 million; analysts are expecting $87.6 million.
MaxLinear is OC’s sixth largest chipmaker, with 118 employees through October, according to Business Journal research.
Behind 1st Kingston Asset Buy
The unraveling of Imation Corp. may have led to a fire sale of its IronKey brand of encrypted USB flash drives and external USB hard drives to Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Inc.
The world’s largest memory products maker for computers and consumer electronics acquired the established brand for a mere $4.2 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Kingston scoured Imation’s books and product lines in two months, closing its first technology asset buy in its nearly 29-year history in less than 30 days.
“We knew if we could acquire it very quickly, we could turn that into value,” Kingston Flash Memory Business Manager Andrew Ewing told the Business Journal.
The Minnesota-based security technology provider in the past year or so has faced proxy battles, activist investors, declining sales, mounting losses and delisting notices from NASDAQ.
Bits & Pieces
Investors and virtual reality watchers didn’t get the guidance many had expected related to Oculus Rift sales in Facebook Inc.’s first-quarter performance, which blew past analyst expectations. Chief Executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg didn’t provide unit sales for the newly released VR headset, which has had early shipping issues due to component shortages. Facebook acquired Oculus VR Inc., which started out in Irvine and maintains a presence there, in 2014 for $2 billion. … Anaheim-based Greengro Technologies Inc., which makes consumer and commercial farming systems for large grow operations in the medical and recreational marijuana sector, acquired growcameras.com on undisclosed terms. The company’s main product is a Wi-Fi, five megapixel camera that monitors crop health through mobile devices. Greengro, which is traded on the Pink Sheets, is implementing more Internet of Things devices in its expanding product line.
