The split of defense contractor SAIC into two companies early this week meant that overnight a new company appeared in San Diego, with 1,300 employees.

The company is Leidos Holdings Inc.

Leidos (NYSE: LDOS) offers services in the national security, health and energy vertical markets. John Jumper, the former chairman and CEO of SAIC, is now CEO of Leidos, which has 23,000 employees all told.

The U.S. Navy is one of Leidos’ key customers in the San Diego region.

SAIC (NYSE: SAIC) saw the split as an opportunity to gain more government contracts. Last year, corporate leaders said a split would help the company avoid “organizational conflicts of interest” and the perception of such conflicts.

Bob Beyster founded SAIC as a one-man government contracting shop in 1969. The firm grew into one of San Diego’s largest corporations. At the same time, it stayed private. Beyster was — and remains — an enthusiastic proponent of employee owned companies.

In the 2000s, SAIC went public and moved its headquarters to suburban Washington, D.C.
 

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