SANTA ROSA, CA-One of Sonoma County's largest employers, Agilent Technologies, has shelved for now a fourth building on its new corporate campus in the Airport Corporate Center. The company makes test and measurement equipment for telecommunications networks.
Two office buildings on the campus site have been completed and occupied and a third manufacturing building is nearly complete. A fourth building planned for the 19-acre site will sit on the drawing board until economic conditions improve.
In a related move, the company has cut about 15% of its temporary work force and adopted other cost cutting measures, according to area experts. Agilent has more than 5,000 regular employees, but does not disclose the size of its temporary workforce.
Agilent announced plans for the new 450-employee corporate campus last June. At that time, the company was expanding and feared running out of room at its existing locations here and in Rohnert Park.
The increase in Internet traffic in the late 1990s fueled Agilent's growth in Sonoma County, making it home to about 10% of the company's 48,000 employees worldwide. Agilent has weathered several periods of expansion and contraction since it predecessor Hewlett Packard opened in Sonoma County in 1972. A slowdown in the telecom business has affected the company just as it has affected other businesses in the local market.
For the three months ended Jan. 31, Agilent reported revenue of $2.84 billion, a 26% increase in revenue from the same quarter a year ago. Net income before accounting changes rose 37% to $179 million.
Agilent stock rode a positive day in the stock market to close at $29.85 on Tuesday, up $2.25. Alas, the stock price is still painfully close to last week's 52-week low of $25, and way too far away from last April's 52-week high of $100.
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