SiliconBeat

LeRoy Kopp and his Minnesota-based Kopp Investment Advisor funds disclosed holding 11.2 million shares, or about 6 percent, of Oclaro, the San Jose fiber-optics equipment company formed out of the April merger of Bookham and Avanex. The investment cost Read the rest of this entry »

Oclaro, the San Jose fiber optics component supplier formed by the April merger of Bookham and Avanex has a new largest shareholder: LeRoy Kopp. According to a regulatory filing Tuesday, Kopp and his Minnesota investment firm, Kopp Investment Advisors, have acquired 9.3 million shares of Oclaro, or about 5 percent of its outstanding shares.

As of May 26, Kopp and his firm owned about Read the rest of this entry »

Bookham, the San Jose maker of optical components, said in a filing today it has settled litigation it had set in motion last year when it asked a federal court in San Jose and the International Trade Commission to declare invalid three patents held by JDS Uniphase related to tunable laser products.

As a result of the settlement, Bookham will pay Read the rest of this entry »

Avanex, the Fremont fiber optics company that announced its acceptance in January of a deal to merge with rival Bookham of San Jose, has evidently reached a settlement with two shareholders who sued the company over the proposed merger, claiming it fails to “maximize stockholder value.”

The shareholders allege that the proxy Avanex sent to shareholders about the deal Read the rest of this entry »

The compensation committee for Bookham, the San Jose optical component firm that decided in January to pay performance-based bonuses to five of its top executives despite the fact that they didn’t achieve their goals, has now decided to reduce the pay of all of its executives by “approximately ten percent,” according to a filing today with the SEC.

The pay cuts will start April 1, and shall “remain in effect until Read the rest of this entry »

Bookham, the San Jose optical component firm that yesterday announced an agreement to merge with its Fremont riva, Avanex, reported to the SEC today that the compensation committee of its board of directors last week approved the payment of performance-based bonuses to five of its top executives despite the fact that the performance goals on which they were based were not met.

The performance period in question was the six month period ended Dec. 27. For the executives to receive a bonus under the plan, the company was to achieve Read the rest of this entry »

Two local optical components rivals — Bookham of San Jose and Avanex of Fremont — announced today they have reached an agreement to merge  into a single company, name yet to be determined, and subject to the approval of their respective shareholders.

Avanex shareholders will receive about Read the rest of this entry »