Mixed Picture of Valley’s Public Companies

Some of the Valley’s and the world’s most well-known and prestigious public companies — Walt Disney Co., Amgen Inc., Northrop Grumman Corp. — are shedding jobs to help performance. It hurts. It’s a good thing that others are helping to pick up the slack. In the past year, companies such as The Cheesecake Factory, Teledyne Technologies Inc., and Diodes Inc. significantly grew their workforce. It’s difficult to keep score of the job losses and gains in this challenging economy. So I took a look at the employment data from the top 10 employers on the Largest Valley Public Companies List and compared with last year. Here are some of the most significant findings: • Burbank-based media conglomerate Disney trimmed 1,000 employees, or less than 1 percent of its workforce. It reported 149,000 employees this year. • Northrop Grumman, which has significant local operations, cut 3,600 employees, or about 3 percent of its workforce. The defense company has 117,100. • Health Net Inc., based in Woodland Hills, shed 700 workers, or about 8 percent of its workforce. The health insurance giant reported 8,010. • The Cheesecake Factory, headquartered in Calabasas, hired 1,500 workers for a total of 31,500, therefore growing its workforce by about 3.3 percent. • Teledyne Technologies, an electronic components manufacturer, hired 700 workers, expanding its workforce by 8.6 percent, with a total of 8,800 employees. • Diodes, a semiconductor designer, manufacturer and distributor, hired 485 workers for a total of 3,986. That’s a workforce increase of about 13.9 percent. I wonder: What the comparison will look like next year? On Page One, we report that Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc., the world’s largest biotech company, recently announced plans to lay off 226 local research and development employees as it trims about 2 percent of its global workforce and throws its resources behind more advanced R&D initiatives. Several Amgen employees have left the biotech giant to start-up other life science research and development-driven businesses. Perhaps some employees who were forced out will go in this direction, spurring innovation in the region. We can only hope. Or, perhaps, some workers will be scooped up former colleagues at PBS Biotech Inc., whose founders are former Amgen leaders. As we report in the front-page story, the company is looking for others who are no longer at Amgen. It would be a shame if the talent fled the region, as one biotech consultant we talked to suggested. Will the city get its act together? I’m not surprised the city of Los Angeles and the Valley Economic Development Association decided to split on the Citywide Small Business Loan Program. The two didn’t see eye-to-eye on lending practices. In our Aug. 29 edition, we reported that the $15 million in the Los Angeles Citywide Small Business Loan Program has been virtually untouched, and the city has made very little progress on its lending and job creation goals associated with the program. Our story illuminated discourse between the city and VEDC and showed how dysfunctional the program was for nearly two years. In that time, only two companies received funds from the program, one being Northridge-based Powerline Control Systems. That’s an embarrassing track record. And I’m not feeling so optimistic that much will change. The city secured the funding for the program through a line of credit it received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. City officials say that since the money comes from the federal government, the city is restricted in how it can be spent. The VEDC thought the city’s collateral requirements were unreasonably stringent — so stringent, in fact, that it kept qualified candidates out of the running. But city officials say their collateral requirements aren’t changing under the restructured program. They say they’re going to improve communications with applicants and clarify what the requirements are. Will that lead to more funds being distributed? That’s the real question. We’re watching to see if the city will meet its goal of dispersing $5 million by springtime and the rest by the end of next year. Let’s hope the Business Source Centers they’ve set up are ready to hit the gas pedal. Business Journal Editor Jaclyn Giovis can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]