Our List of the Best Businesses in Irvine, CA
What are the best companies in Irvine, CA? That is not an easy question to answer. Irvine is the beating heart of Orange County business. (Sorry Newport Beach, you’re great too but there can only be one…) What used to be basically a sea of orange groves with a university in the middle – not to say there is anything wrong with that, old Irvine was a wonderful place – has turned into an incredibly dynamic and crucially important business hub.
So, determining the best businesses is not an easy feat. We like challenges though, so we think that we are up to the task.
This is not a scientific endeavor, so we don’t have a great deal of empirical data to discuss. Rather, we have sought out companies that are provocative, successful, and / or have had an impact on the community.
So, without further ado, the best businesses in Irvine.
Space X
First on our list is Space X. Why is it first? Because it is Space X, that’s why. I mean, they are trying to go to mars people, and they have an office in Irvine. (That basically means that the good people of Irvine will be part of the first Martian colony.)
Elon Musk’s company, whose home office is in nearby Hawthorne, by the way, opened its offices in Irvine back in 2016. The office’s apparent focus is satellite communications, which seems important to us. They’ve been here ever since, with many a job opening on Indeed to prove it.
What could be more exciting than having a developer of cutting-edge space technology in your backyard? Nothing, that is what. And that is why Space X is on our list.
Looking for a job at Space X? First of all, thank you for being incredible. Second, check out this blog post with tips on getting a job at Space X. (It’s not ours.) Third, please leave a note in the comments, we would love to chat.
Last point, be sure to check out the awesome video below to see a Space X spaceship landing vertically. Incredible. If you watch just one video in this post, that should be the one, trust us. It’s really cool.
Ingram Micro
Unlike Space X, Ingram Micro is headquartered in Irvine.(Space X just has offices there.) Formed all the way back in 1979 – in Southern California no less – Ingram Micro is a massive organization with ~ 35,000 employees, $49.1 billion in revenues, and over $15 billion in assets. They distribute IT products and services to over 250,000 customers both in the U.S. and around the globe, and are one of the biggest names in their industry.
According to our research they are regularly hiring all kinds of positions in Irvine, so if you are interested in information technology and are local you should keep them on your radar. That having been said, if you aren’t looking for a job in IT don’t fret, Ingram Micro is a publicly traded company (NYSE: ticker IM), so if you have a few dollars squirreled away you can literally join the ownership team. Sidenote, if you do become an owner, please tell them to reach out to us for their outsourced finance department needs.
Want to learn a little bit more about Ingram Micro? Take a look at their video introduction below.
The Hoag Health Network
Next on our list is the Hoag Health Network. This is truly a local company in every way because all of their operations are right here in Orange County. (Maybe you should think about doing that too Space X and Ingram Micro.) Not only that, but they work hard every day to keep all of us healthy, and we here at the My OC Bookkeeper blog are very grateful for that. Strictly speaking they are a non-profit but given the incredible work they do and the number of OC residents they employ we decided to include them anyway.
The incredible Hoag network treats roughly 30,000 inpatients and 350,000 outpatients annually. They opened way back in 1952 (when Orange County was actually filled with oranges), with Hoag Health Center Irvine opening in the early 80s, and Hoag Hospital Irvine opening in 2010. They are here to help us all with medical needs large and small, and we are certainly grateful for that. Thank you Hoag Health!
Interested in volunteering with the Hoag Network? Here’s a good place to start.
What to learn more about how Hoag has grown over the years? Take a look at the video below which has some really great historical footage from old Orange County.
Blizzard Entertainment
No list of the top businesses in Irvine would be complete without Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is one of the top video game companies in the world, having created such well known titles as the World of Warcraft, Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch – all of which have many iterations.
The company was founded back in 1991 by three UCLA grads, and its headquarters are right here in Irvine. Not only do they create incredible video games, but they also employ roughly 4,700 people. As if that wasn’t enough, they also sponsor the annual BlizzCon convention which draws gaming fans from across the county to our own Anaheim Convention Center – providing yet another boost to local business.
Thank you for the great games Blizzard, but please don’t make them so addictive. We need time to get some other things done.
Want to see an awesome video about Blizzard’s games? Take a look below.
The Irvine Company
What is the last company on our list? It should be obvious. It’s inconceivable not to include the company with Irvine in its name on the list of the best companies in Irvine, the queen bee of all companies in Irvine: The Irvine Company.
For those of you who don’t know. The Irvine Company is a real estate development company with offices in Irvine and Newport Beach that has played a major role in the development of not just Irvine, but large swaths of Orange County. They own The Market Place, the Irvine Spectrum Center, and Fashion Island, and have helped develop countless residential areas throughout the county.
It’s not just their great development projects that make them great though, it’s also both their commitment to protecting Orange County’s natural environment and their philanthropic endeavors. From an environmental standpoint, they’ve earmarked nearly 50,000 acres as preserved wildlife – known as the Irvine Ranch Open Space – which helps to preserve Irvine’s great balance between nature and development. From a philanthropic standpoint, they’ve gifted over $220 million to local schools and universities.
So there you have it. The 5 best businesses in Irvine, (one of which is a nonprofit.) We hope you found this illuminating. Think we’re crazy? Let us know your opinions on the best businesses in Irvine in the comments. We love a good discussion. Want to check out another cool list about this great community? How about the 5 Best Parks in Irvine. Or, to zoom out to the OC in general, check out our list of the 5 best beaches in Orange County.
As we’ve discussed, Irvine has a vibrant and exciting business community filled with all kinds of great companies. At My OC Bookkeeper there’s nothing we enjoy more than collaborating with great Irvine businesses. We provide bookkeeping and business advisory services to companies in Irvine and all over Southern California. Have a question about accounting or business finance? Reach out to us and let’s chat. Take a look at our video below to learn a bit more about what we do.