Oakland Heavyweight Moves East

There is a big shake-up in one of Oakland's business mainstays.

Clorox Co. announced it is moving most of its staff out of Oakland,

The landing spot of some 700 employees is down the 580 to Pleasanton.

Clorox's headquarters has been located in downtown Oakland for decades.

The loss of jobs will certainly be felt by nearby businesses who provided services to the Clorox workers.

Clorox CEO Donald Knauss says the new Pleasanton campus will evoke images of the IBM Research Center in San Jose or open spaces at the national laboratories in Livermore.

Officials told the Oakland Tribune they are moving east to a new campus in Pleasanton by the end of next year. Sixty percent of the current staff is on the moving list.

The new location will house Clorox's research and development operations. Those operations are currently located at another site in Pleasanton. But the staff that supports the research department remains separate in Oakland.