One story in the San Francisco Business Times related how ADP, a mainstay in Hacienda Business Park for decades, is shuttering its office there. The company’s 63,000-square-foot building is located in the Britannia Business Center on Hopyard Road and operations have been there since 1997. The report indicated that changing workforce needs led to the decision to close the building and workers there would be shifted to other sites in the East Bay.
The second story was more surprising. Rapidly growing 10x Genomics, headquartered on Stoneridge Mall Road with a three-building new complex under construction nearby, announced it would be laying off 33 employees. In the 10 years since its founding in Pleasanton, the company has pioneered many products designed to help researchers do their work more efficiently,. Its customers include more than 90% of the top research institutions and private sector life science companies.
It's been almost three years since 10x completed its initial public offering that raised 4390 million. Revenues have climbed from $3.32 million in 2015 to $490.5 million in 2021. The company’s first quarter revenue was off slightly, largely driven by the lockdown in China that accounts for about 15% of sales. More significantly, the company was estimating just about 2% growth this year, a rate well below its previous soaring revenue.
CEO Serge Saxonov described the job cuts as making the company more resilient and positioning it for future growth. The firm expects its new 381,000-square-foot facility to open in the first quarter of next year.
The two announcements show that the Tri-Valley, despite its diversified and robust economy is not immune from broader trends. Just what demand for office space will be moving forward in days of remote work or hybrid schedules remains an open question. Major tech employers such at Facebook and Google have tried to pull employees back into the office and have faced major pushback from people happy to skip the commute and work from home. The Business Times cited a Newmark report that put office vacancy at 19% in the Tri-Valley.
Given the sweet spot that 10x seemed to be in and its strong customer list, it’s a surprise to see revenues slowing so significantly. The company still has not reached profitability thus the minor personnel retrenchment to adjust expenses.
The East Bay Times reported that Snowflake had nearly quadrupled its space in the Dublin office building it occupies that fronts Interstate 580 at Tassajara Road. A spokesman was quoted as saying it could accommodate an additional 500 employees. The tech company helps firms maximize its collaboration and utilize data coming from the cloud.
