2017 revenue and hiring at Orange County-based minority-owned businesses showed little change from 2016, according to Business Journal research—including slight declines at companies such as No. 3, Alorica in Irvine, and No. 7, New American Funding.
The flat results for 74 listed firms—$19 billion in revenue and 13,600 workers—masks a year of activity in other areas.
Alorica provides customer service and call centers to clients; it reported a 4% sales dip to $2.3 billion but topped our last list of fastest-growing large private companies with 290% growth over two years.
Lender New American Funding’s revenue declined 8% to $443 million; its recent moves include buying an office building.
The 20 largest firms were little changed, save two new entrants—No. 18, Ad Exchange Group in Irvine, and No. 19, Venus Group Inc. in Foothill Ranch.
The first is a digital ad marketer. Chief Executive Peter Nguyen nabbed a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneurship award in March and is on its OC 500.
Active Ride
This year’s No. 4, M S International Inc. in Orange, and No. 5, lender LoanDepot in Foothill Ranch, swapped slots from last year’s accounting. M S imports and distributes natural stone products.
M S cracked $1 billion in annual revenue in 2017, which fueled its uptick, and was No. 17 on the fastest-growing private companies list for large companies, with two-year growth of 34%.
LoanDepot walked back an initial public offering a couple of years ago—which only seems to have increased its intensity. Chief Executive Tony Hsieh’s recent moves have included a technology upgrade and two new business units.
No. 2, Vizio Inc., also has a planned-never-priced IPO in its rear-view mirror, along with a kiboshed $2 billion acquisition by China-based LeEco, terminated in April.
Co-founder and Chief Executive William Wang has settled the flat-panel smart-TV maker in as OC’s fifth-largest private company, with $3.5 billion in revenue.
They Roll
The list was topped again by memory products maker Kingston Technology Co. with $6.6 billion in revenue.
Kingston’s HyperX unit, which tailors products such as keyboards and headphones to gamers, signed sponsorship deals with pro athletes, esports notables and NBA teams.
Rounding out the top 10:
• No. 6, Northgate González Markets in Anaheim, with $745 million in revenue
• No. 8, Tawa Supermarket Inc. in Buena Park, with $380 million
• No. 9, Angels Baseball LP in Anaheim, with $300 million
• No. 10, Bascom Group LLC in Irvine, with $248 million
Northgate is a 40-unit Hispanic supermarket chain founded in 1980 and co-led by brothers Miguel and Oscar González Reynoso. The chain last month received the Robert B. Wegman award for entrepreneurial excellence from a trade group.
Tawa owns the 99 Ranch Market chain—founded four years after Northgate and of similar size with 42 locations. 99 Ranch caters largely to the Asian community. Bascom owns apartments.
Move, Shake
Angels Baseball—in an off-season widely known for its dearth of free-agent moves—snagged Japanese “Babe Ruth,” Shohei Ohtani, a move seen in part as preparation to retain fan favorite Mike Trout when he hits free agency in a couple of years.
Revenue rose just 5%—but effects of its 2017 OC activity go beyond numbers.
The 8% revenue boost by No. 22, Wahoo’s Fish Taco in Santa Ana, to $61 million is also more than the sum of parts after a few years of slow growth by the Pacific fusion, surf-vibe restaurant. Co-founder and charity man-about-town Wing Lam was also personally active, working with OC’s youth skateboard entrepreneur and Shark Tanker Carson Kropfl (see startups column, page 20).
• No. 21, Aeronet Logistics Inc. in Irvine, a global air-sea-land shipping coordinator, added a few of its own trucks to services last year.
One of this year’s list members is unlikely to make next year’s: Aranda Tooling Inc. in Huntington Beach, No. 23, with $60 million in revenue—from metal fabrication and stamping, and tool and die design—is moving to Chino.
