With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1501233
ISTOCK JULY/AUGUST 2023 BCBUSINESS.CA 89 WINNERS +LOSERS W I N N E R S Zymeworks REVENUE CHANGE: 1,505% NET INCOME: $161 MILLION C NET INCOME CHANGE: N/A It's been a tough couple of years for Vancouver-based biotech firm Zymeworks, which has seen a barrage of layoffs and executive turnovers since CEO Kenneth Galbraith took over from co-founder Ali Tehrani in January 2022. Soon after tak- ing the reins, Galbraith laid off some 25 percent of the company's 455 staff. "We did that as fairly, as quickly and as accurately as we could to get to the size I thought we should have, which is around 300 employ- ees," Galbraith told BCBusiness last year. So far, the bloodshed seems to be working, as Zymeworks' year-over-year results far out- pace that of any other Top 100 company. Of course, a $375-million deal for the exclusive licence to develop and commercialize the antibody zanidatamab throughout most of the world hasn't hurt either. UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Biotech was big in B.C. this year, as Vancouver-based Zymeworks earned a spot at the very top of our winners list Science and health-tech companies and oil and gas purveyors saw revenues balloon, while the price of certain minerals tanked some miners b y N A T H A N C A D D E L L