Five Fortune 500 Companies That Rock the L.A. Economy
Hometown Success Stories Rev Up Los Angeles Economy
The mere mention of Los Angeles is enough to make most of us think of the city's wonderful climate, movie stars and the Hollywood sign. But Los Angeles is also a business and manufacturing powerhouse. In fact, the city's bustling economy, which is built on international trade, music, television and the movies, aerospace, technology, oil, fashion and tourism, makes the City of the Angels the biggest manufacturing center in the United States.
One of the best ways to zero in on the industrial sectors that make the L.A. economy tick is to take a closer look at the handful of Fortune 500 companies that call Los Angeles home. Alphabetized according to the business sector they represent, these companies are Northrop Grumman (aerospace), Occidental Petroleum (energy), Health Net (health care), KB Home (home building) and Reliance Steel & Aluminum (metals).
Here's an overview of each of the five companies:
Aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman got its start in 1927 in Denver, Colorado, but now calls Los Angeles, California, its home. Northrop Grumman is the third biggest U.S. defense contractor and the number one maker of naval vessels for the U.S. Navy, boasting estimated annual revenues of 30 billion dollars and a global workforce of 120,000 employees. Northrop Grumman's Corporate Headquarters are located at 1840 Century Park East, Los Angeles, California.
Occidental Petroleum, also known by the nickname "OXY" for its trading symbol on the New York Stock Exchange, is now the fourth biggest American oil and gas company. Managed from its headquarters at 10889 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, OXY employs some 9000 workers at locations in the United States, the Middle East, North Africa and South America. Occidental Petroleum is the biggest Texas oil producer and also California's number one producer of natural gas.
Health Net, Inc., provides HMO, POS, PPO and other managed health care solutions to almost seven million customers in all 50 states. Health Net, which is formally based in Woodland Hills, one of many districts within the city of Los Angeles, came under national scrutiny in 2007 when a California woman sued the company, claiming it had wrongly discontinued her care during chemotherapy. As of this writing, the case is still pending in the courts.
Originally founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad, KB Homes is one of America's biggest homebuilders. KB Homes built homes for some 37,000 American families in 2005, the last year for which this kind of data was available. Based in Los Angeles, KB Homes has four main divisions within the United States: West Coast (California), Southwest (Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico), Central (Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas) and Southeast (Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia). KB Homes' Corporate Headquarters are found at 10990 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.
A hometown success story, Reliance Steel & Aluminum was established in 1939 at Los Angeles, where it began by manufacturing steel reinforcing bar. Today, the company distributes a full line of more than 60,000 metal products through a network of more than 180 locations in the United States, Belgium, Canada, China and South Korea. Still loyal to L.A., Reliance manages its global operations from its Corporate Headquarters at 350 South Grand Avenue, Suite 5100, Los Angeles, California.
Contact the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce at 350 South Bixel Street, Los Angeles, California, for more information about the Los Angeles economy.
About the Author
Matt Paolini is a senior researcher for CityBook, the family-safe Online Yellow Pages, which carries an extensive directory on Los Angeles franchise
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