Viant Technology Inc.’s headcount has been growing, and the Irvine-based digital ad software company wants you to know it.
Viant (Nasdaq: DSP) told the Business Journal its July local headcount had increased to 184 from 144 a year earlier, for a hefty 28% increase.
“We are building a platform that will set us up for sustainable long-term growth and ongoing market share gains,” Chief Operating Officer Chris Vanderhook told financial analysts on Aug. 9.
Viant, which counted a valuation of about $425 million as of last week, moved up three places to No. 17 on this year’s Business Journal rankings of largest OC software companies by number of local employees. It had 338 employees companywide as of July.
The Business Journal’s list includes 26 companies. Echoing national trends that have seen tech giants cut jobs in the face of a potential recession, OC’s list shows a increase in workers, but not a substantial one.
The list indicates a minimal increase of 1% in OC headcount to 8,826 in July from 8,738 in the year-earlier period.
Familiar Names
Companies at the top of the pack are familiar.
Blizzard Entertainment, maker of such video game hits as World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Diablo IV, stayed at the No. 1 spot with an estimated 2,450 employees in OC (see story, page 1).
Blizzard’s parent company Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) of Santa Monica is awaiting a takeover by Microsoft to create a video game colossus.
IBM Corp. was steady at slot No. 2 with an estimated 1,200 employees in Costa Mesa, followed by UKG Inc. in Santa Ana and Oracle Corp. in Irvine, with an estimated 440 employees and 425, respectively. All three have their headquarters outside OC.
Alteryx Cost-Saving
Irvine-based data analytics software maker Alteryx Inc., once the darling of investors with a valuation topping $10 billion back in 2020, slipped three slots to No. 8 as its estimated local headcount fell under 300 following a layoff announced in April.
Alteryx, co-founded by OC entrepreneur Dean Stoecker, saw its share price drop from $158.62 on Feb. 14, 2020, to about $30 on Sept. 6.
A news report the following day that said Alteryx has been exploring a sale sent the shares up 14%.
Alteryx CFO Kevin Rubin told financial analysts on Aug. 7 that the company is implementing strict cost-saving measures.
“This includes elimination of most open positions, scaling back spending, areas of reorganization, additional performance management, and headcount reductions,” Rubin said. “We expect these cost-saving efforts to generate an annualized cost savings of over $30 million.”
Irvine-based micro-investing firm Acorns Grow Inc., co-founded in 2012 by Walter Cruttenden and son Jeff Cruttenden, slipped four places to No. 11 as its local headcount stayed at an estimated 210.
Lower Headcount
Four companies on the list reported a dip in headcount, other declines are Business Journal estimates.
Newport Beach-based Tebra Technologies, which makes medical practice management software, declined 10% to 359 employees in OC as of July.
Tebra, formed the merger of Kareo of Irvine and Patient Pop of Santa Monica in 2021, had 17 job openings posted on its website as of Sept. 5.
