San Francisco, Aug 10 : The world’s largest consumer robot maker iRobot was acquired by Amazon for $1.7 billion in the last week, has cut 10 percent of its workforce of more than 140 employees.The company announced that in order to better match its cost structure with the future revenue forecast it’s in the process of starting an “restructuring of its operations”.
“The plans are likely to result in an overall reduction of approximately 140 employees which is 10 percent of the workforce of the company at the time of July 2 2022,” it stated in its earnings report for the quarter.
The restructuring, according to the company is expected to yield net savings in the range of approximately $5 million to $10 million in 2022, and $30 million-$40 million in 2023.
The latest outbreak is more than double the number iRobot was forced to lay off in April 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
The layoffs at iRobot occurred in the wake of Amazon announced its intention to buy iRobot in a deal worth $1.7 billion in an all-cash transaction.
iRobot launched the world’s first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002 and has sold millions of robots around the world for cleaning, mapping , and navigation.
When the transaction is completed of the deal, Colin Angle will remain as the CEO of iRobot.
“Since we founded iRobot the team has been working to create practical, innovative products that make our customers their lives easier, which led to the development of products like Roomba and iRobot OS.Roomba as well as iRobot OS,” said Angle Chairman and CEO.
“Amazon shares our enthusiasm for creating innovative solutions that allow people to do more in their homes, and I can’t imagine of the better location for our team members to carry on our work,” he added.
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