NO LOVE AT AMGEN (03/17/23)

MARCH 17, 2023 — CONFIRMS 450 LAYOFFS

In a second round of layoffs in 2023, the company has announced its intentions to lay off 450 employees or less than 5% of the roles in the Thousand Oaks, California office.

According to a company spokesperson, "We made these changes to realign our expense base in the face of intensifying pressure on drug prices and high levels of inflation. We know this is a challenging time for each person impacted. We will support staff leaving Amgen by offering transition services and severance, ensuring they are treated with respect for their contributions.”

JANUARY 30, 2023 — CONFIRMS 300 LAYOFFS

The company has confirmed that it let go of about 300 U.S. employees or about 1.2% of its total workforce, citing recent organizational changes to its commercial team.

According to a company spokesperson, "We made these changes to better manage against industry headwinds so that we can continue to deliver value for our patients, staff, and shareholders. These decisions are never easy, and we are committed to helping those impacted with transitional support."

JULY 12, 2022 — 500 LAYOFFS

Amgen has confirmed its intention to lay off 500 employees across its workforce, primarily among the U.S. sales force, as the company “pivots to upcoming drug launches and adopts pandemic-time digital marketing tools for the long run.”

According to a company spokesperson, "We made these changes to better enable Amgen to make additional investments we believe are needed to take advantage of patient-focused opportunities, including launching new products, and investing in R&D," the company said in an emailed statement. "These decisions are never easy, and we are committed to helping those impacted with transitional support."

FEBRUARY 9, 2021 — 500 LAYOFFS, INCLUDING 100 IN THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA

The company announced that approximately 500 workers would be laid off, many from Amgen’s field-based domestic sales force, including 100 from Amgen’s Thousand Oaks, California headquarters. The layoffs will commence on April 2, 2021.

According to a company spokesperson, “We made these changes to better enable Amgen to make additional investments we believe are needed to take advantage of patient-focused opportunities, including launching new products and investing in R&D. These decisions are never easy, and we are committed to helping those impacted with transitional support.”

NOVEMBER 13, 2019 — AMGEN LAYING OFF 149 EMPLOYEES IN ITS CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS FACILITY

The company has announced that it will be halting its work in neuroscience research after the company and its partner Novartis decided to halt work on its Alzheimer’s therapeutics earlier in the year. Much of this work is done in the company’s Kendall Square facility.

According to a company spokesperson, "We made the difficult decision to end our research in neuroscience, which is largely based in Cambridge. We recognize that Cambridge is a vibrant life sciences community that enables access to external innovation and top talent. The site remains a center of excellence for operations, with a significant process development presence dedicated to advancing the pipeline and developing next-generation technologies.

company halting its neuroscience research. It and partner Novartis halted work on two Alzheimer's disease treatments earlier this year. The company will be consolidating the remainder of its U.S.-based research work at its Thousand Oaks, California headquarters and in its San Francisco, California offices. The layoffs do not affect the process control people in the Cambridge office.”

NOVEMBER 7, 2017 — Original post…

No stranger to restructuring, Thousand Oaks (California) pharmaceutical powerhouse Amgen is restructuring to meet the demands of competition and activist investors. Hundreds of employees are involved; some will be laid-off, transferred, or have the primary responsibilities realigned with the latest corporate goals.

Some employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate to other Amgen facilities. The most prominent of one which is located in Tampa, Florida, where the company benefits from a deep labor pool, reduced costs of living, and the fact that there are no personal state income taxes in Florida – unlike the increasingly heavy taxes in California.

Amgen is especially vulnerable to competition from “bio-similar” pharmaceuticals as well as restructuring pressures from hedge-funds, investor activists, and institutional investors.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

NO LOVE AT BLUE APRON (12/08/22)

DECEMBER 8, 2022 — 10% REDUCTION IN FORCE

The company has announced its intention to reduce its workforce by 10% to stay afloat during a period of stagnant sales. Approximately 170 employees are at risk.

The company’s shares have declined 93% over the past year, from $11.40 to $0.79, making them subject to delisting.

According to a company statement…

Expense Management

Blue Apron continues to identify and execute against multiple initiatives to both reduce expenses, and streamline decision-making and organizational structure, including a plan for meaningful reduction in marketing, consulting and labor spend in 2023.

As such, to create a more nimble, focused organization and to better align internal resources with strategic priorities, Blue Apron is streamlining its personnel this week. This will result in a reduction of approximately 10% of its total corporate workforce. As a result of these actions, the company expects to incur approximately $1.2 million in employee-related expenses, primarily consisting of severance payments, substantially all of which will result in cash expenditures. The company expects to recognize such expenses in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Blue Apron plans to further reduce expenses and has identified expense reductions of up to approximately $50.0 million in 2023, as compared to 2022, including the headcount changes identified above. These savings are planned to be implemented throughout the coming year.

APRIL 2, 2019 — BLUE APRON CHANGES CEOs AND MARKET APPROVES.

The company has announced that CEO Brad Dickerson has been replaced by the former COO at Etsy, Linda Findley Kozlowski. The announcement was greeted by a 15% bump in the stock price.

This could signal a dangerous time for some employees as new CEOs normally attempt some restructuring and a reduction in force to cut operating costs.

OCTOBER 23, 2017 — Original post…

Blue Apron, the purveyor of meal-kits, recipes and ingredients, has announced that it will be laying off approximately 300 employees. In spite of the management happy-talk about a “company-wide realignment” and “streamlining decision making for greater accountability,” the move looks like a cost-cutting move to retain interest in its underperforming stock. With Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, Blue Apron can be facing its most formidable competition ever.  

Something-in-a-box appears to be a valid business model for those who like convenience, surprises, and have trouble making decisions, but Blue Apron reminds me of the dot-com boom when almost any concept associated with the internet could be used to raise investment capital with the goal of making the investors rich in a public offering. Even burdened with continuing multi-million dollar losses did not appear to matter only the story counted, and the company’s real customers were the speculative investors that could boost stock prices until management and employees were able to “call in rich.”

Outside of middle-class yuppies and pseudo-elites, I wonder how many people really comprise a marketplace for what amounts to mail-order meal kits? And, if this enthusiasm can be sustained over long periods of time.

While the “something-in-a-box” is a valid business model for those who like convenience, surprises, and may have trouble making decisions, the market for meal kits appears to be limited, both by the concept and the potential competition as there is nothing really proprietary that is protectable other than the codebase used for the platform. 

"In the second quarter, we saw an 18 percent year-over-year increase in net revenue, and a $20.6 million improvement in our net loss between the first and second quarters. We recently strengthened our balance sheet as a result of our initial public offering, convertible note issuance and the expansion of our revolving credit facility," said Matt Salzberg, chief executive officer of Blue Apron. “We are beginning a new chapter as a public company, and remain focused on our long-term strategy to build an iconic consumer brand, develop a more diverse product portfolio, and further build out an end-to-end supply chain platform.”

Red flags are flying at Blue Apron. But, you have to love their way with words in announcing their Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results.

“The second quarter net loss of $(31.6) million was an improvement of $20.6 million compared to the net loss in the first quarter of 2017 of $(52.2) million, reflecting the planned reduction in marketing spend.”

“The year-over-year growth rate in the second quarter of 2017 was lower than the year-over-year growth rate of 42% from the first quarter of 2017, driven by a planned reduction in marketing spend of $26.1 million between the first and second quarter.”

Let’s see if I have this right: Blue Apron planned to reduce their marketing spend by $26.1 million and then congratulates themselves because their second quarter 2017 net loss of $31.6 million is certainly better than their $52.2 million loss in the first quarter of 2017. So by not spending $26.1 million dollars, they reduced their loss by $20.6 million and call it a win?

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

NO LOVE AT CITRIX (01/31/22)

JANUARY 31, 2022 — CITRIX TO BE ACQUIRED, LAYOFFS PENDING?

Private equity firms Austin, Texas-based Vista Equity Partners and Menlo Park, California-based Evergreen Coast Capital have announced that they will purchase Citrix, a desktop virtualization specialist, for $16.5 billion to combine with Palo Alto, California-based Tibco, an analytics company. The company will be taken private with the deal expected to be completed by mid-2022.

The bad news, is that Evergreen Coast Capital is a subsidiary of activist investor Elliot Management with a reputation for reorganizations, divestiture of underperforming assets, extreme cost-cutting and personnel reductions, spin-offs, and upstreaming dividends to shareholders.

There is no doubt that the deal was driven by Elliot… “Elliott's Jesse Cohn joined the company's board in 2015 when the hedge fund urged Citrix to spin off some units and buy back shares, before stepping down in 2020.”

JANUARY 12, 2022 -- 80 LAYOFFS IN SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA

The restructuring is continuing with 80 layoffs, including engineers, senior directors. and other managers. at the company’s Santa Clara, California campus scheduled for January 18, 2022.

According to a company spokesperson, the restructuring will allow Citrix, which offers virtualization software, to improve its profit margins and position it for more predictable and profitable growth.”

NOVEMBER 18, 2021 — RESTRUCTURING LAYOFFS CONTINUE

The company’s board-approved restructuring plan is proceeding with approximately 110 layoffs, including full-time and part-time employees located at the company’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida headquarters.

NOVEMBER 16, 2021 — 50 LAYOFFS IN RALIEGH, NORTH CAROLINA

The company continues to implement its restructuring plan to improve operational efficiency. Approximately 50 employees in Raliegh, North Carolina will be impacted.

According to a company spokesperson, “We carefully examined our entire workforce and identified the roles and org structures we need to deliver on our strategy to help customers accelerate their IT modernization, enable secure distributed work and boost worker productivity. In some cases, employees may be shifted to new roles where they would focus on our key or new investment areas, and in others, positions will be eliminated to ensure we operate as efficiently as possible.”

“We are looking to ensure that we’re making all of the necessary investments that support our growth. And we’re looking to remove distractions that not only depress margins but distract us from growth.”

OCTOBER 6, 2017 — Original post…

According to published reports, Citrix may be cleaning up its operation by reducing personnel costs and enhancing profits in order to be more attractive to potential buyers.  According to a recently filed Securities and Exchange Commission report, look ahead to another round of mass layoffs that may equal or exceed the layoff of approximately 1,000 employees in 2015.

Like many underperforming companies, the Citrix CEO, Kirill Tatarinov, was replaced early in his tenure by its CFO David Henshall in July 2017. Some Wall Street analysts suggested that this move might signal an emphasis on profits rather than growth. This is bolstered by the company’s corporate-speak blurb that attributed the move to “a series of strategic initiatives intended to drive operating margin expansion, increase capital return and facilitate further investment in accelerating Citrix’s transformation to a cloud-based subscription business and in high-growth areas, such as data security and analytics services.” Earlier this year reports that Bain Capital, The Carlyle Group, and others were looking to take the company private; but no purchaser is currently in sight. Once again, an activist hedge fund, Elliot Management, seems to be driving the changes.

From the SEC filing … Item 2.05. Costs Associated With Exit or Disposal Activities.

Consistent with its previously-announced plans intended to accelerate the transformation to a cloud-based subscription business, increase strategic focus, and improve operational efficiency, on October 4, 2017, Citrix Systems, Inc. (the “Company”) announced a restructuring program to support these initiatives (the “Restructuring Program”). The Restructuring Program will include, among other things, the elimination of full-time positions and facilities consolidation. Any
position elimination proposals in countries outside the United States will be subject to local law and consultation requirements.

The Company currently expects to record in the aggregate approximately $60 million to $100 million in pre-tax restructuring charges associated with the Restructuring Program. Included in these pre-tax charges are approximately $55 million to $70 million related to employee severance arrangements and approximately $5 million to $30 million related to the consolidation of leased facilities and other charges associated with the Restructuring Program. Substantially all of these charges will result in future cash expenditures. The Company currently anticipates completing the majority of the activities related to the Restructuring Program during the fourth quarter of 2017 and during fiscal year 2018.  <Source>

Again, it pays for employees to watch personnel changes, the appearance of activist investors, and SEC announcements.