Wednesday, October 14, 2015Kythera Chops 117 Employees In Post Acquisition LayoffIn a blow to the biopharmaceuticals industry along the 101 corridor, Westlake Village-based aesthetic medicine developer Kythera Biopharmaceuticals disclosed on Tuesday that it is laying off 117 of its employees, just days after the consummation of a deal to be acquired by Allergan. The $2.1 billion cash acquisition of Kythera by Allergan closed on October 1st. The layoffs number to more than half of the company's pre-acquisition workforce, of around 200 employees earlier this year.
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Western Digital May Bid On SanDisk, Says ReportIrvine-based data storage developer Western Digital has been named as one of the companies potentially looking at a deal for flash memory maker SanDisk, according to a report late Tuesday. According to Bloomberg, SanDisk has hired investment bankers to find a buyer for the company. Western Digital--one of several companies potentially looking at SanDisk--reportedly has interest in SanDisk due to the importance of flash memory in a growing, flash-based storage market. Flash memory maker Micron is (More info...)
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Illumina Puts More Funding Into 23AndMeSan Diego-based DNA sequencing equipment maker Illumina has joined in a new venture funding round for high profile, genetic testing startup 23andMe. 23andMe said this morning that it has raised $115M in a Series E funding round, which was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, and also included Casdin Capital, WuXi Healthcare Ventures and Xfund, plus Illumina, New Enterprise Associates, MPM Capital, and Google Ventures. Illumina is a prior investor in 23andMe, which provides personalized (More info...)
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Ingram Micro Buys DOCdataIrvine-based computer products distributor Ingram Micro announced this morning that it is buying European e-commerce fulfillment companies DOCdata Nederland B.V. and DOCdata International B.V., paying approximately $175M for the two related companies. Ingram Micro said that DOCdata is a leading European providers of order fulfilment, returns logistics and online payment services. Ingram Micro said the deal will add approximately $150M in annual services revenue to the company.
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EDF Renewable Energy Puts Wind Farm Into OperationSan Diego-based renewable energy project developer EDF Renewable Energy said Tuesday that it has put a new wind farm, its Spinning Spur 3 Wind Project, into commercial operation ahead of schedule. The wind farm, located in Texas, is supplying electricity to two, municipal utilities, Georgetown Utility Systems and Garland Power & Light, both in Garland, Texas. EDF Renewable Energy said the new product will generate enough electricity to power approximately 58,200 homes. EDF Renewable Energy said (More info...)
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Yuneec Rolls Out Point-and-Fly DroneDrone aircraft manufacturer Yuneec, which recently set up its U.S. headquarters in Ontario, California, said Tuesday that it has launched a new product, the Typhoon Wizard, which allows users to "point and click" to fly their drones. The company said its new, ultra lightweight drone aircraft lets users fly the drone by simply pointing a handheld controller in the direction a user wants the drone to fly, and clicking some buttons. Yuneec says the new multicopter only requires one hand to operate. (More info...)
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Radical.FM Launches $500 A Week Streaming Radio ContestVenice, California-based Radical.FM, the Internet radio service led by Thomas McAlevey, is looking to ramp up the sharing of music streams from the service, with a $500 cash prize each week. According to Radical.FM, over the next four weeks, the company will give away $500 a week to users who share their music streams with others using its "RadCasting" feature, either via Facebook or Twitter. The user with the most "likes" will win the prize.
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