JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU) was an American company that designed and manufactured products for optical communications networks, communications test and measurement equipment, lasers, optical solutions for authentication and decorative applications, and other custom optics. It was headquartered in

Milpitas, California Milpitas ( Spanish for "little milpas") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in Silicon Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 80,273. The city's origins lie in Rancho Milpitas, granted to Californio ranchero José Mar� ...

. In August 2015, JDSU split into two different companies –

Viavi Solutions Viavi Solutions (stylized VIAVI Solutions), formerly part of JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU), is an American network test, measurement and assurance technology company based in Scottsdale, Arizona. The company manufactures testing and monitorin ...

and Lumentum Holdings.

History

Uniphase was started in 1979 in a

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

garage, and made lasers for chip makers and scanners. In 1981, JDS Optics was founded in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

by Philip Garel-Jones, Gary Duck, Jozef Straus, and Bill Sinclair. The "JDS" is short for Jones, Duck and Straus/Sinclair. The company became JDS Fitel when it formed a partnership with Fitel, a fiber optic and optical connector company. In 1999, JDSU was formed by the merger between JDS Fitel and Uniphase, and it became known as JDS Uniphase subsequent to the merger. Three other major fiber companies were acquired by JDS Uniphase during the telecom boom – Optical Coating Laboratory Inc. (OCLI), bought for $6.2 billion and based in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa ( Spanish for " Saint Rose") is a city and the county seat of Sonoma County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area in California. Its estimated 2019 population was 178,127. It is the largest city in California's Wine Country and ...

, E-TEK Dynamics, bought for $15 billion, and SDL, bought for $45 billion, both based in

. In 2003, CEO Straus retired, and the company moved its headquarters to San Jose, California, to consolidate its business. On August 3, 2005, the company acquired test and measurement equipment company Acterna for $760 million, which became part of JDSU's Test and Measurement Group. Acterna had been formed by the May 2000 merger of network test solutions developer Wavetek Wandel Goltermann (WWG) and hand-held test equipment developer TTC. In 2006, the company moved its headquarters to Milpitas, California. In December 2013, the company announced it was acquiring fellow network performance management company Network Instruments, for $200 million. On August 1, 2015 JDSU split into

and Lumentum Holdings Inc.

Stock

During the 1990s, JDS Uniphase stock was a high-flyer tech stock investor favorite. Its stock price doubled three times and three

stock split A stock split or stock divide increases the number of shares in a company. For example, after a 2-for-1 split, each investor will own double the number of shares, and each share will be worth half as much. A stock split causes a decrease of mark ...

s 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 a downturn in the telecom industry as part of the

dot com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

, JDS Uniphase announced in late July 2001 the largest (up to then) write-down of goodwill. 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. On September 23, 2005, JDSU announced a reverse stock split one-to-eight.

Shareholder litigation

After the 2001 crash of the telecommunications industry, the state of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

filed a lawsuit against the company and four key executives, claiming that they had misled 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.

References

Litigation references

*Dan Levine. "JDS Uniphase Scores a Win in Securities Case," Law.com, November 28, 2007 *Kevin M. Lacroix. “Defense Verdict in JDSU Securities Trial,” The D&O Diary, November 27, 2007
Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse, November 2007

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jdsu Companies based in Milpitas, California Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Electronics companies of the United States American companies established in 1999 Optics manufacturing companies Photonics companies Electronics companies established in 1999 1999 establishments in California American companies disestablished in 2015 Electronics companies disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in California