Some of the Fast 50 Have Lost Steam
Santa Monica-based CyberMedia topped the 1998 Los Angeles Technology Fast 50 ranking, demonstrating just how fast things change on the Tech Coast.
The Fast 50, sponsored by Deloitte & Touche, ranks public and private companies according to sales growth during the last five years. CyberMedia, which makes software that allows PCs to fix themselves, logged five-year revenue growth of 129,354%. But the company faltered so badly this year that it was acquired by rival Network Associates earlier this month.
The No. 2 company, Santa Monica computer-networking firm Osicom Technologies, saw its revenue grow 2,233% during the last five years. But Osicom lost $16 million in its 1998 fiscal year, and lost $15.6 million the year before that.
Nonetheless, the Fast 50 ranking for Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Riverside and San Bernardino counties includes many solid companies (though one of the area’s superstars, Internet service provider EarthLink Network, didn’t make it, despite its 79,100% revenue growth rate, because it hasn’t been in business for five years).
Deloitte & Touche calculated that 36% of the Fast 50 firms make software, 21% are in the semiconductor and equipment category, 14% are in the communications field and another 14% produce computers and peripherals.
