LITTON SPINOFF NOW ITS NEIGHBOR.Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer Unova Inc. of Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. started out life as the commercial business division of defense giant Litton Industries Named after inventor Charles Litton Sr., Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States, bought by the Northrop Grumman Corporation in 2001. Inc., which about five years ago spun it off into a separate company. After all these years apart, the former relatives are about to become neighbors. On May 10, Unova moves from its oversized o·ver·size n. 1. A size that is larger than usual. 2. An oversize article or object. adj. o·ver·size also o·ver·sized Larger in size than usual or necessary. Beverly Hills headquarters to a smaller base at 21900 Burbank Blvd. in the Warner Center, barely a block from the company that once owned it. ``It's like going home again. We'll be neighbors,'' said Jacquie Hook, Unova's manager of corporate communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. . ``But the businesses won't be connected.'' The close proximity wasn't planned that way, said Dirk Koerber, Unova's vice president of corporate affairs and investor relations Investor relations The process by which the corporation communicates with its investors. . ``It's purely accidental,'' he said. Unova, a $2 billion maker of industrial automation and data-collection and computing systems, is Litton's relative twice-removed. To concentrate on defense engineering and electronics, Litton spun off its commercial business division in 1994. That spun-off business became Western Atlas Western Atlas was formed in 1987 through the merger of Western Geophysical (owned by Litton Industries) and Dresser Atlas. The resulting company was a joint venture of Litton and Dresser Industries until it was spun off as a publicly traded company in 1994. . About 18 months ago, Houston-based Western Atlas, now concentrating on oil services, in turn spun off the division that eventually became Unova. Litton, incidentally, also relocated from Beverly Hills and is now at 21240 Burbank Blvd. It's just a few blocks from 20th Century Industries, also a transplant from the hills of Beverly. Unova became smaller with each spinoff, and company officials recently concluded that the 125,000-square-foot headquarters at 360 N. Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills is too big for about 80 home office employees. The company has a worldwide work force of about 10,000, Hook said. Through its pension plan, the company has bought the three-story Woodland Hills building where it will occupy the third floor and, when the current tenants' leases expire, part of the second, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Hook. The news of the move interested Litton officials, who were amused by the irony. ``I would welcome them to the neighborhood,'' said Randy Belote, Litton's director of media relations. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion