NetApp to lay off 8% of global workforce
Need to focus 'focus on the areas of our business best positioned for growth' says CEO George Kurian
Cloud storage and management technology developer NetApp Tuesday said it plans to lay off about 8% of its global workforce.
NetApp in a Tuesday regulatory filing unveiled the planned workforce reduction as part of its "planned efforts to realign resources to prioritise investments against its biggest opportunities in light of the macroeconomic challenges and reduced spending environment."
The planned layoffs are slated to be complete by the end of NetApp's fiscal year 2023, which is expected to be 28th April.
This is not NetApp's only recent round of layoffs. The company in the first six months of fiscal 2022 laid off about 1% of its global workforce as it restructured to reduce its office space due to the large number of employees working remotely. Another 1% were laid off in early fiscal 2023 as NetApp restructured to redirect resources to highest-return activities.
California-based NetApp had about 12,000 employees worldwide, according to a July 2023 US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
NetApp expects charges related to employee severance and benefit costs from the restructuring to be between $85 million and $95 million.
NetApp CEO George Kurian, in an email to employees the company included as part of the SEC filing, wrote that the firm has been discussing the impact macroeconomic issues, which are driving businesses to be more conservative in their IT spending, are having on NetApp.
"We are not immune to these challenges. Against this backdrop, we must be agile, deliver on our near-term commitments, while positioning ourselves for long-term success," Kurian wrote.
"This means sharpening our strategy to focus on the areas of our business best positioned for growth, adapting our cost structure to reflect focus and market conditions and raising the bar on our performance. Having successfully navigated similar challenges together with you before, I am confident that sharp focus on our strategy and strong execution will enable us to capture the opportunity ahead."
Kurian continued: "Announcing the layoffs makes for a difficult day, and so while necessary to strengthen the company's competitive posture, it does not overshadow the impact on employees, and the company is ready to continue offering customers the industry's best storage, data, and cloud operations solutions.
"We have a strategy built on a foundation of trusted customer relationships, industry-leading innovation, and unmatched partnerships with all the leading public cloud companies. Even as we work through this difficult time, it is imperative we continue to deliver on our commitments to our customers, shareholders and our employees."
The first month of 2023 is turning out to be a tough time for employees in the IT industry, with tech layoffs impacting at least 17 companies, including IBM and SAP, both of which disclosed layoff plans recently.
A version of this story first appeared on Computing's sister site CRN.