IRobot Corp., maker of the Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, announced Monday it will lay off about 7% of its workforce, as a wave of job cuts sweeps the tech industry.
In a statement Monday announcing its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, iRobot
IRBT,
said it has started a new restructuring program — a follow-up to its August 2022 operations restructuring — that will result in net annualized savings of about $14 million. That includes the layoffs, which will affect about 85 employees.
Also read: More than 101,000 tech-sector employees have lost their jobs since the start of 2023
“In addition to the reduction in force, iRobot’s 2023 operating plan incorporates scaled-back working media and other demand-generation activities, limited investment in non-robotic product categories and minimal new hiring plans in 2023,” the company said.
IRobot said in conjunction with the layoffs, it expects to record about $4 million in restructuring charges in the first quarter of 2023.
Last August, Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
announced it would buy iRobot for about $1.7 billion. The deal has not closed yet, and in September the Federal Trade Commission requested additional information about the acquisition as part of an antitrust review.
IRobot shares have sunk 14% year to date and 35% over the past 12 months, compared to the S&P 500’s
SPX,
8% rise in 2023, and 6% decline over the past year.
