A Sept. 19 proxy vote by Masimo (Nasdaq: MASI) shareholders has the potential to end the tenure of co-founder and CEO Joe Kiani and bring about an unprecedented amount of change to the Irvine device maker.
See Yuika Yoshida’s front-page story on the latest drama for the $6B-valued firm, which has seen its share of headlines the past few years amid legal battles, a poorly received acquisition, a new line of consumer-focused products and boardroom drama.
Pro-Kiani correspondence to shareholders suggests that more than 300 employees, including Bilal Muhsin, Masimo’s COO and Kiani’s planned successor, could leave the firm if activist investor Politan Capital gets its way in the vote.
N.Y.-based Politan has suggested that exodus is overstated and that employees were pressured to sign a letter in support of Kiani.
Where could Kiani and his backers go if they lose the vote and walk? Maybe not too far.
Cercacor Laboratories, a device maker with its HQ down the street from Masimo, counts ownership of IP licensed to Masimo for use in one of its key blood-monitoring product lines.
Politian has noted that Masimo pays $17M a year in royalties to Cercacor, where Kiani serves as CEO, chairman and majority owner.
Change is also underway at Irvine’s Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW), which recently completed the $4.2B sale of its Critical Care division to N.J.-based Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE: BDX).
The just-sold unit remains in Irvine and is now known as BD Advanced Patient Monitoring. Roughly 4,500 employees, representing 20% of Edwards’ workforce, are moving to BD as part of the transaction.
Alongside the sale, Edwards this month reported 192 local job cuts, as part of a one-time, company-wide restructuring. Shares at the $41B-valued heart valve giant are off more than 9% this year.
There are signs of progress for the first batch of retail development planned in and around Irvine’s Great Park.
Property records indicate that an affiliate of San Juan Capistrano developer Almquist recently closed on a $21.3M purchase of land at the Great Park Neighborhoods, the master-planned community overseen by Irvine’s FivePoint (NYSE: FPH).
Almquist last year was selected by FivePoint to build a grocery-anchored retail site at the Great Park Neighborhoods, which has seen some 9,000 homesites by the master developer sold over the past decade.
The developer has proposed a roughly 80K-SF project, dubbed The Canopy, which would also feature restaurants and retail shops and is expected to serve both locals and guests at the city-owned Great Park.
Product launches from Palmer Luckey’s Anduril Industries are coming at a rapid clip.
Last week, the fast-growing Costa Mesa defense contractor, founded in 2017 and currently valued at $14B, unveiled a new line of cruise missiles, dubbed Barracuda.
The ‘air-breathing’ missiles will cost 30% less than comparable weapons, are built for ‘sustained’ conflict and are already operational, it said.
“Barracuda production rates are designed to keep pace with the threat and can be doubled on-call to meet short-term surges in demand,” the company said in a statement.
The products “solve some of the biggest problems faced by our military,” Luckey said last week.
