The biggest foreign-owned firms in Orange County by employment saw little change in their combined workforce in 2018, but specific companies and industries made notable moves and what the list doesn’t reflect, at least not yet, could be even more influential on the group.
The 36 largest firms employ about 27,000 local workers—down one-tenth of 1% from a year ago, according to data provided by the companies and Business Journal estimates.
The big-four—Lake Forest-based Panasonic Avionics Corp., Irvine-based B. Braun Medical Inc., Foothill Ranch-anchored Oakley Inc., and Zodiac Aerospace, with a presence in Huntington Beach—retained their spots.
B. Braun, a medical device maker owned by a German firm, showed the biggest hike, adding 182 for a 10.7% gain.
Local Hires
Other companies hiring locally include:
• No. 8, Microvention Inc., a Japan-owned medical device maker that moved from Tustin to a newly-built office in Aliso Viejo a little more than a year ago, up 3.6%.
• No. 10, Allianz, the parent company of financial giant Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport Beach, up 3.5%.
• No. 16, Meggitt PLC, a U.K.-based aerospace engineering firm in Irvine, up 5%.
• No. 21, GKN PLC, an aerospace manufacturer with multiple locations in OC that was bought last year by U.K.-based Melrose Industries PLC for more than $10 billion, was up 8%.
An industry that showed growth locally is automotive manufacturing, led by No. 19 Karma Automotive LLC in Irvine. It hired a tick above 100 workers, and produced the largest percentage gain on the list at more than 26%.
Karma added workers in its high-voltage battery and electrical engineering work, and as of November had about 50 open jobs posted on its website, from public relations to IT.
The maker of Revero, a luxury electric car, is owned by a Chinese firm but has its local HQ at a 262,000-square-foot building in the Spectrum area.
Other OC carmakers saw gains as well as losses in employees: No. 18 Mazda and No. 23 Kia each added about 35 workers for growth of 6.6% and 9.4%, respectively. No. 20 Hyundai cut 15 for a decline of 3.1% and No. 33 Mitsubishi was flat.
Hyundai and Kia also shook-up their executive ranks, hiring new local chiefs; Karma recently added two marketing executives, including one formerly with Aston Martin’s local operations in Irvine and one from L.A.-based electric vehicle startup Faraday Future.
Unseen
What the list doesn’t show—or not yet—is nearly as notable as what it does.
Some of the big OC names aren’t on the list anymore and others may join or leave it within the year.
• Last year’s No. 5 Broadcom Inc., formerly based in Singapore, took up U.S. residency in San Jose and dropped off the list. It still employs more than 1,000 workers at its digs near the Orange County Great Park.
• Billabong USA also dropped off the list. Huntington Beach-based Boardriders Inc. bought the apparel maker in April.
• A company not on the list is BlackBerry smartphone maker TCL Communication in Irvine. It’s Chinese-owned and employs about 125 locally—below our cutoff of at least 200 local workers.
TCL made headlines earlier this month when the Wall Street Journal reported that a weather app it makes had been “collecting an unusual amount of data from smartphones around the world,” then subscribing users to paid services without permission.
It licenses the BlackBerry name and security elements for smartphones, but is otherwise unrelated to Canada-based software maker BlackBerry Ltd., which is paying $1.4 billion for Irvine-based Cylance Inc. in a deal expected to close by March—and add a prominent name to the list of foreign-owned companies in OC.
A possible future departure is venerable tech firm Ingram Micro Inc. at No. 14—with 900 local employees, flat year-over-year—owned by China-based HNA Group Co.
HNA is shopping the firm, with New York-based alternative asset operator Apollo Global Management mentioned recently as a possible buyer in numerous national news reports.
Notables
One company that reported lower employment was Japan-owned shoe and apparel maker Asics America Corp. in Irvine, which clocks in at No. 36 with 224 employees, down 2%—five workers—on the year.
We note OC’s Toshiba units, ranked No. 22, also have fewer employees than a year ago, but as a Business Journal estimate, aren’t given as a percentage decline.
Some of the local cuts came from Toshiba selling its PC business to Sharp Corp., also in Japan—which kept the Toshiba brand name for those products, and some workers locally.
In addition to moves at OC carmakers, two companies—No. 5 Thales Avionics in Irvine and No. 24 Yamaha Corp. of America in Buena Park, the world’s largest musical instrument maker—brought on new local executives.
