Roomba robot vacuum on display at iRobot headquarters in Bedford, Massachusetts
Scott Ills | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Manufacturer of Roomba iRobot on Monday announced plans to cut about 7% of its workforce.
The layoffs will affect approximately 85 employees, iRobot said in its fourth-quarter earnings report. As of December 31, 2022, the company had 1,254 employees.
In the fourth quarter, the company lost $84.1 million on revenue of $357.9 million. iRobot said it expects to see “muted” orders in the first quarter of 2023.
iRobot is downsizing as it is in the process of being acquired Amazon. The electronics retailer announced last August that it would buy iRobot for $1.7 billion, but the deal is still pending as the Federal Trade Commission investigates whether it violated antitrust laws.
iRobot joins a stream of tech companies announcing layoffs in recent months as rising interest rates and slowing consumer demand fueled recession fears and prompted companies to cut costs. Amazon has laid off about 18,000 corporate employees Meta, Google, Sales department and others have announced significant job cuts.
The layoffs come after iRobot laid off about 100 employees and closed a number of open positions last August to better align its cost structure with near-term revenue and cash flow and to boost profitability.
The latest cuts are made “in anticipation that market conditions will remain challenging in 2023,” the company said in an earnings release. As a result of the layoffs, iRobot will receive $4 million in compensation.
Shares of iRobot were slightly lower during extended trading on Monday.
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