Orange County is home to a vibrant sector of companies that make and market consumer electronics, the largest among them accounting for more than 4,500 jobs, even with a recent rough patch for local employment at the top.
The 18 companies on this week’s Business Journal list—an inaugural effort that includes companies based here and others with headquarters in Asia but significant operations in Orange County—accounted for a cumulative cut of nearly 9% of their local work force amid consolidation, declining PC sales and global economic jitters.
The trim of 448 positions left a work force of 4,580 at a diverse cast of companies, from global leaders to startups covering a cross-section of industries, including TVs, computers, speakers, storage products, and remote controls. Figures reflect operations from April 2014 to April 2015.
Six companies added employees, and three cut workers. Two reported flat employment, and seven companies were Business Journal estimates or did not provide enough information for comparison.
The list focused on electronic device makers and other enterprises that primarily sell products and services to consumers, a methodology that omitted companies such as Laguna Beach-based virtual reality content maker NextVR Inc. and Greenwave Systems Inc., a smart-technology provider in Irvine that solely targets business customers, although some of its products are ultimately sold to consumers.
The companies employed 474,168 worldwide, down 3.5% from a year ago. Their combined sales hit about $56 billion last year, a 0.2% change.
• The top two employers—Western Digital Corp. and Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., both based in Irvine—accounted for nearly all of the job losses as PC sales last year sunk to the lowest levels since the depths of the Great Recession in 2008.
• No. 1, WD, the world’s largest disk drive maker, shed 204 positions in Orange County, to about 1,700 local workers, down 10.7% from a year ago. The company last year initiated a restructuring plan that eliminated 180 positions, mostly in the U.S., and primarily in California, that affected engineers, managers and administrative personnel.
Its $17 billion takeover of Milpitas-based SanDisk Corp. closed last week, creating the most diversified company in the storage market, with annual sales nearing $20 billion. The buy closely followed Chinese regulators finally approving WD’s $4.8 billion integration of HGST—acquired three years ago—which includes factories around the globe and 41,000 employees.
Toshiba America Information Systems handles sales and marketing of TVs, laptops and consumer memory products, among others, for Japanese parent Toshiba Corp. It cut 200 workers in March for a local count of 800, down 20% from a year ago.
“While we greatly regret any reduction in staff, a challenging [consumer electronics] market has required Toshiba to make some aggressive changes in order to ensure our future success,” said spokesman Eric Paulsen.
It remains the largest Toshiba business unit based in OC, with some $3 billion in annual sales despite hurdles caused by the rise of smartphone adoption, longer PC buying cycles and some internal tumult.
The Business Journal last month reported that the parent company plans to put its 26-acre office and industrial campus at Irvine Spectrum up for sale. The two-building property at 9740 Irvine Blvd. employs about 800.
The main Irvine office also had housed some employees from Toshiba Corp.’s medical systems operating unit that makes diagnostic imaging systems, which was sold recently to Canon Inc. in a $5.9 billion deal.
Longtime company veteran Satoshi Tsunakawa this month was nominated to the top post following an accounting scandal that prompted the resignation of the former chief executive, chairman and eight board members, leaving the conglomerate financially battered, facing record losses, deep job cuts and other potential divestitures.
• No. 3, Kingston Technology Co., employs about 650 in Fountain Valley, which is headquarters of the world’s largest memory products maker for computers and consumer electronics, with an estimated $6.5 billion in sales last year, down about 13.3% from a year earlier.
The job cuts are more of a statistical change than a hit on local jobs—Kingston changed its reporting standard this year and eliminated contractors from employment totals.
The company recently acquired the IronKey brand of encrypted USB flash drives and external USB hard drives from Imation Corp. for $4.2 million in its first tech buy. Early this year it signed a licensing deal with Microsoft Corp. to manufacture headsets for Xbox One, a big evolution of its HyperX division, which targets gamers and is now separately branded from other Kingston products.
The company nearly a year ago sold subsidiary Payton Shenzhen Co. for $110.7 million to Shenzhen Kaifa Technology Co. Ltd., which gained back-end wafer processing and supply chain management services.
• No. 4, Canon, employs 390 at a sales and marketing office in Irvine and its Canon Experience Center in Costa Mesa, roughly flat from a year ago. The Tokyo-based company opened the 38,000-square-foot support and service center in late 2014, offering free and paid photography classes, training and workshops, as well as equipment cleaning and repair services.
• No. 5, Irvine-based Vizio Inc., added 25 jobs to 234 local employees, up 12% from a year ago. The consumer brand, which posted sales of $3.5 billion last year, recently introduced its Vizio SmartCast Ultra HD home theater system synced with Google Cast. The company, which battles Samsung as the top U.S. seller of smart TVs, has filed plans to raise up to $172.5 million in a very dry tech sector IPO market.
• No. 10, Costa Mesa-based startup Audeze LLC, added 15 workers to 53 employees, up 39.5% from a year ago, the highest percentage increase of any company on the list.
The company this month released its award-winning SINE headphone, available directly for $500 or through its global network of 400 dealers. Apple stores recently began carrying the high-end headphone, which includes a fully integrated Apple Lightning cable for $550.
“We are getting a good marketing and sales push from that,” said co-founder and Chief Executive Sankar Thiagasamudram.
