Joby Aviation To Buy Plantronics HQ

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COMMUNITY NEWS Joby Aviation To Buy Plantronics HQ

On Nov. 30, Joby Aviation, the local company that aims to launch electric air taxis, is scheduled to close on the purchase of a storied tech office in Santa Cruz, formerly Plantronics, for $25.5 million.

Plantronics built the headset used by astronaut Wally Schirra to orbit the earth in 1962.

Plantronics became a NASA supplier. Its headset conveyed these famous words during the Apollo 13 mission: “Houston, we have a problem.”

Plantronics, which became one of the largest private employers in Santa Cruz, had a reputation for innovation. One of the first companies to produce Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics installed solar panels over the parking lot, teamed up with CityBlooms to grow greens for employee lunches, and redid its workspace to create alternatives to cubicles.

In 2018, Plantronics, known for headsets, acquired Polycom, known for videoconferencing, for $2 billion and hoped to get noticed in the audio visual space. A year later, the company was rebranded Poly. During the pandemic, Zoom took over the videoconferencing market.

HP then acquired Poly in August for $3.3 billion.

The Plantronics site, five buildings with 162,000 square feet at 345 Encinal St., is assessed at $15.6 million.

The purchaser is Aero, a subsidiary of Joby Aviation, founded in 2009 by JoeBen Bevirt in Bonny Doon.

The key to the electric air taxi is its ability to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, with no need for an airport runway.

The speed of the craft would make a trip to San Jose or San Francisco, a breeze, instead of being snarled in highway traffic, as it is now.

Joby Aviation is now backed by venture capital and Toyota, and has a partnership with Delta Airlines. Joby has more than 600 employees, offices in San Carlos and Munich, Germany, and a manufacturing facility in Marina. Bevirt lives in Bonny Doon and has operated his company in stealth fashion.

In July, Flying Car News posted a video of a test flight of the sleekly designed craft.

In October, Santa Cruz Works along with 200 bankers, investors, aviation companies, and public officials got a tour of the Marina facility, reporting “automation insures quality, safety, and scaled production.”

Bevirt gave credit to all of his employees, calling them “the heart, the soul of the company.” The tour included a flight demo, reporting how quiet the Joby craft is compared to conventional aircraft, and two videos are posted at www.santacruzworks. org/news/joby-field-trip n •••

Joby Aviation, which went public in August 2021 and is valued at $2.6 billion, aims to launch the air taxi by 2025.