News

A $50-million-dollar planned expansion at the Cargill Meat Solutions facility southwest of Fresno should add 300 jobs to the 1,000-person workforce already employed there.

Toyota Motor Corp. plans to move large numbers of jobs from its sales and marketing headquarters in Torrance to suburban Dallas, according to a person familiar with the automaker’s plans.

In a dramatic sign of the rise of streaming video and how vulnerable companies can be to changing technology trends, Qumu Corp. (NASDAQ: QUMU) is coming back to the Bay Area and will divest itself of its shrinking disc publishing business so it can focus entirely on its growing corporate video content management software business.

Palo Alto-based Tesla is opening a new 431,000-square-foot facility in the San Joaquin County city of Lathrop.

About 150 employees at rocket engine maker Aerojet Rocketdyne in Canoga Park were told Wednesday that they would be laid off as part of a companywide reduction that the company says is related to last year’s merger.

A Sprint call center in Rancho Cordova is closing,  leading to 240 layoffs, according to the Sacramento Bee. The last day for workers will be March 25, though they will be paid through April 8.

The Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization showcased nine companies at an annual luncheon Wednesday whose expansions or moving to the region will create 1,485 new jobs.

The layoffs were felt at the studio’s Culver City headquarters and at international offices. Among the divisions said to be deeply affected by the staff reductions is Sony Pictures Interactive, the studio’s digital marketing arm. 

Tesla Motors confirmed Wednesday that Nevada is a site finalist for a massive lithium ion battery factory it needs to support a ramped up production of its electric cars. According to Tesla’s blog, Nevada is competing against New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. Final site selection is underway as the states engage in a tax incentive bidding war for the plant. A decision could come anyday.

Cox Communications said Wednesday it is closing a call center in San Diego, eliminating 500 jobs. . . . Company spokesman Dennis Morgigno said the expanded call centers will be located in Las Vegas; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Oklahoma City; Wichita, Kan.; Hampton Roads, Va.; and Baton Rouge.

The Palo Alto, Calif., company outlined plans for a factory that would employ up to 6,500 people and cover as many as 1,000 acres, including solar and wind farms to supply its power needs. It is evaluating sites in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, Tesla said in a regulatory filing.

On Feb. 4, GenCorp said it would cut 5 percent of its nationwide workforce to gain efficiencies from the merger. At 5 percent, the cuts worked out to 225 employees across the country, and it turns out they are mostly in California.

Last week, the San Francisco Business Journal reported that Charles Schwab SCHW +0.34% is planning on moving “a significant number of San Francisco-based jobs” out of the state over the next three to five years. Charles Schwab’s San Francisco roots date back to its founding four decades ago, with the firm ranking as the 47th-largest employer in the Bay Area. The company employs almost 2,700 people in the region, and has a company-wide workforce of 13,600. Observers close to the situation blame the city’s extreme payroll tax and high cost of doing business in California as the reasons for the company’s exodus.

After nearly a century here, Westwood oil giant Occidental Petroleum Corp. is moving its headquarters to Houston.

The Home Depot Inc. says it’s preparing to hire 80,000 workers as it prepares for spring, the company’s busiest selling season . . . The do-it-yourself giant’s hiring website currently lists 16,928 open positions nationwide, including 232 openings for part-time workers in California, 178 in Texas, 100 in New York,