Transphorm gets $3.6M grant
Transphorm, the Goleta-based energy efficiency firm backed by $63 million from Google and other investors, has received a $3.6 million federal grant to improve solar panels. Transphorm’s technology uses a semiconducting material called gallium nitride to drastically reduce heat waste in electronic systems. The grant from the U.S. Department of Energy went to Transphorm in Read More →
Vitesse slashes workforce, dims sales outlook
Vitesse Semiconductor, the Ventura County chipmaker rocked by a stock-options scandal in 2006, has laid off 10 percent of its workforce and shuttered one of its Camarillo facilities. Vitesse disclosed the pink slips in a regulatory filing Oct. 3. The company said it ended its lease on facilities at 4721 Calle Carga and terminated 10 Read More →
Forecast: Crummy, with a slight chance of worse
The professional services and hospitality industries are leading the South Coast’s private-sector job creation, with each adding about 1,000 jobs since the recession ended.
Memorial slated for SLO attorney
Phil Steiner, a well-known intellectual property attorney in San Luis Obispo, died on Sept. 25. He was 55. A memorial is planned for Steiner at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo at 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 30. Steiner was instrumental in establishing the intellectual property section of the San Luis Obispo County Bar Read More →
Ventura County Business Bank acquired
Oxnard-based Ventura County Business Bank has been acquired by Royal Business Bank for an undisclosed amount. Ventura County Business Bank’s two branches, in Oxnard and Westlake Village, officially opened as a subsidiary of Royal Business Bank on Monday, according to a news release, and will continue to operate under their original name until February. For Read More →
French firm plucks Dole division
Dole Food Co. said Sept. 20 that it was selling its ripening and distribution businesses in Spain and Portugal, known as Dole Spain, to the Compagnie Fruitière Group. Terms of the sale, expected to close in November, were not disclosed. Westlake Village-based Dole holds a non-controlling 40 percent stake in Compagnie Fruitière. The other 60 Read More →
