It was to be expected that Irvine-based Cylance would garner attention of potential suitors; the 6-year-old cybersecurity company has recently been one of the local tech community’s big success stories, reporting about $130 million in sales last year, up 90% year-over-year.
But when BlackBerry emerged this month, it caused existential questions in OC, including, ‘BlackBerry still exists? And they have $1.4 billion to spend? Really?’
It turns out the Waterloo, Ontario-based firm isn’t your grandfather’s BlackBerry, having recently pivoted from cellphones to enterprise software, and had plenty of cash on hand to spend on Stuart McClure’s nearly 400-person business.
Early indications suggest business as usual for McClure and Cylance’s Irvine operations. BlackBerry executives indicated Cylance will be run as its own business unit. It was 24 degrees and snowing in Waterloo last Wednesday; I’m not expecting an exodus of talent from Irvine to colder locales.
Cylance first gained national attention after the 2016 election and reports of Russian interference. This past summer it offered, free of charge, antivirus software to all political candidates and their teams “to help safeguard American campaigns.” Fitting, perhaps, that the announcement of the sale to BlackBerry came a week after midterms.
Paul Bokota called it “the lawyer prom,” referring to our annual General Counsel Awards event on Nov. 13. Coverage of the five winners—including Spectrum Brands’ Bokota, whose side job is more stressful than your full-time job, see page 4—makes up a good portion of this week’s issue.
You’ll read plenty of inspiring stories. I came away with one question: When do any of the winners—vigorous multitaskers who, in addition to their main jobs, actively give back to this community and others—ever sleep?
The same could be said of our longtime master of ceremonies, legal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, who flew in to chaperone the prom, and made it back to UC Berkeley’s law school in time to teach an 8 a.m. class the next day.
The giant USC flag atop the 17-story Airport Tower office on Von Karman Avenue. came down as quickly as it went up following the Trojans’ 34-27 loss the prior weekend to UCLA. The building’s run by Irvine-based Muller Co., whose principals, John and Stephen Muller, are Trojan grads.
Was there a UCLA counterpart in the flag competition? “We’re not really the giant flag type of people,” quipped Bruin alum and Savills Studley exec Royce Sharf last week, relishing the football team’s first win over its rival since 2014. The Victory Bell win puts enough luster on a 3-8 season to keep Chip Kelly’s job more than safe, Sharf said.
UCLA got bragging rights on another area site this month; the graduate student team from the Ziman Center of Real Estate at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business bested its Trojan counterparts in NAIOP SoCal’s annual UCLA vs. USC Real Estate Challenge.
The teams offered competing development plans for an empty 11 city-owned acres along the 55 Freeway in Tustin.
UCLA proposed a development featuring two select-service hotels, 240 apartments and 75 units of affordable housing with 10,000 square feet of supporting retail.
The site’s down the street from a pair of hotels built by Newport Beach’s Bob Olson, who has a grad degree from USC.
Thanks to all for the well-wishes last week.
It’s my goal to make the Insider column—which over the years has been written by a trio of SoCal’s best business columnists—informative, entertaining and representative of OC’s diverse business community. I welcome your thoughts, news tips and suggestions: mueller@ocbj.com.
Also, please keep sending real estate news to the guy on page 19.
