JDSU

JDSU

Company type	Public (Nasdaq: JDSU) (TSX: JDU)
Industry	Optical products and broadband communications
Founded	Merger of JDS Fitel and Uniphase Corporation in 1999
Defunct	August 2015
Headquarters	Milpitas, California, United States
Number of locations	80 offices, serving customers in more than 160 countries
Key people	Thomas H. Waechter, President & CEO David Vellequette, Chief Financial Officer
Products	Communications test and measurement equipment; optical communications components, modules, and subsystems. Lasers used for biotechnology, semiconductor manufacturing, and materials processing. Thin film coatings, components, and assemblies used to manage light for displays, instrumentation, office automation, and aerospace/defense. Optical solutions for brand protection and document authentication; and decorative coatings for brand enhancement and differentiation
Revenue	$1.3 Billion USD (FY2009)
Number of employees	~4,000 (2008)
Website	www.jdsu.com

JDS Uniphase (Nasdaq: JDSU) is a company that designs and manufactures products for optical communications networks, communications test and measurement equipment, lasers, optical solutions for authentication and decorative applications, and other custom optics. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California, USA. It was formerly known as JDS Uniphase, prior to a rebranding of its corporate image on September 14, 2005. The legal entity is now called JDS Uniphase Corporation, whereas elsewhere the company always refers to itself as JDSU.

History

JDSU was formed by the 1999 merger between two fiber-optic companies, JDS Fitel of Canada and Uniphase Corporation in the US, and became known as JDS Uniphase subsequent to the merger. In 1981, JDS Fitel was founded by Jozef Straus, Philip Garel-Jones, Gary Duck, and Bill Sinclair. The "JDS" is short for Jones, Duck and Straus/Sinclair. JDS Uniphase had two corporate headquarters, one at 3000 Merivale Road, Ottawa and the other in San Jose, California. Three other major fiber companies merged with JDS Uniphase during the telecom boom: OCLI based in Santa Rosa, California, and E-TEK Dynamics and SDL, both based in San Jose, California. With the downturn in the telecom business that started in 2000, JDSU moved its headquarters first to San Jose, California, and then in 2006 to nearby Milpitas.

JDS Uniphase stock was a high-flyer tech stock investor favorite. Its stock price doubled three times and three stock splits of 2:1 occurred roughly every 90 days during the last half of 1999 through early 2000, making millionaires of many employees who were stock option holders, and further enabling JDS Uniphase to go on an acquisition and merger binge. After the telecom downturn, JDS Uniphase announced in late July 2001 the largest (up to then) write-down of goodwill and business losses in business history: $45 billion. Employment soon dropped as part of the Global Realignment Program from nearly 29,000 to approximately 5,300, many of its factories and facilities were closed around the world, and the stock price dropped from $153 per share to less than $2 per share. Especially hard-hit were the R&D activities and researcher jobs related to producing new OC-768 (40 Gbit/s) and OC-192 (10 Gbit/s) products, which were largely terminated in light of the shift in market interest to continuing with legacy OC-48 (2.5 Gbit/s) data rate products.

The logo of the former JDS Uniphase was an open multi-colored box, intended to evoke a feeling of thinking "outside the box" among employees. The logo of the new re-branded JDSU represents the cycle of innovation that begins and ends with the customer.

On September 23, 2005, JDSU announced a reverse stock split one-to-eight to one-to-ten.[1] On December 2, 2005 JDSU stock holders authorized the reverse stock split after its 2005 annual meeting.

Epitaxx was absorbed by JDS Uniphase in the 1990s; Alka Swanson was the general manager of this branch of the corporation.

As of February 2010, JDSU stock trades just over $9. Analysts like Jim Cramer laud the stock, citing the new interests that telecommunications companies now have in optical fiber telephone and Internet services. Verizon FiOS is an example of a fiber optic service that may benefit JDSU in the future.

Shareholder litigation

After the 2001 crash of the telecommunications industry, the state of Connecticut filed a lawsuit against the company and four key executives, claiming that they had, and hid from company shareholders, advance knowledge of the company's impending downturn. Unlike most similar lawsuits, which are dismissed or settled before trial, Connecticut's lawsuit went to trial in October, 2007. JDSU was acquitted of all charges in November, 2007.

Litigation references

1. Dan Levine. "JDS Uniphase Scores a Win in Securities Case," Law.com, November 28, 2007

2. Kevin M. Lacroix. “Defense Verdict in JDSU Securities Trial,” The D&O Diary, November 27, 2007

3. Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, November 2007

External links

• JDSU
• JDSU JDS Uniphase Message Board Active community of JDSU investors and watchers.
• USA Today article about best and worst stocks of the George W. Bush presidency (JDSU last)
• Dolby 3D Digital Cinema JSDU makes optics for Dolby 3D Digital Cinema & 3D Glasses