After years of strong sales momentum, the company suffered a recent dropoff in sales, many high profile executives, including its chief operating officer have recently left and now it has cut 20% of its US workforce – 30 employees and contractors out of a workforce of 150. In this round of layoffs no executives left, nor was there any significant shift in the types or amount of work being done in the U.S. reports AllThingsD quoting an HTC representative
The news was first reported by The Verge on Friday, and later confirmed by AllThingsD on Sunday.
In a leaked email, Jason McKenzie, said the job cuts were ‘part of a broader plan to simplify our organization, sharpen our teams focus, improve our speed in decision-making, and drive greater empowerment through our team, while reducing our overall cost structure’
The decision resulted in mixed market reactions with Computerworld making reference to the Taiwanese authorities’ arrest of three HTC employees for allegedly stealing company secrets in September. One of those arrested was Thomas Chien, HTC’s vice president of product design.
The company saw a 70% fall in net profit during its 2012 first quarter. Its revenue has fallen by shy of 35% compared to the same period a year ago, with the company still reeling from a painful January where revenues fell by almost 50%. HTC has stated it faces gross margin challenges due to the high cost structure of flagship device HTC One, which was delayed getting out of the door.
