iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT) is laying off 7% of its humans, with the Amazon-bound Roomba maker cutting back on media and marketing budgets.
The robot vacuum cleaning group’s deal to be bought by Amazon is currently in antitrust review, and, in the meantime, it is the latest tech firm to wield the axe.
A new restructuring aims to save US$14mln a year, with around 85 jobs being cut alongside trimmed budgets for “demand-generation” and a drop off in investments into non-robotic activities. Hiring for the remainder of 2023 is also expected to be limited.
On the Nasdaq, iRobot stock was on the front wheel in Tuesday morning’s trade – up 1.11%, changing hands at US$41.93.
iRobot yesterday reported US$357.9mln of fourth-quarter revenue, down from US$455.4mln in the same three months of 2022.
Full-year revenue was reported at US$1.18bn, down 24% against the US$1.56bn banked in the prior year, as order volumes from North America and the EMEA dropped year-over-year.
The company meanwhile told investors it had seen a ‘solid’ initial contribution from sales of its new ‘mid-tier’ (priced between US$330 and US$499 per unit) and its ‘premium’ robot vacuums (+US$500) represented 84% of fourth-quarter sales, up from 81% a year ago.
E-commerce channels (its own website and app, third-party online retailers and the websites of brick-n-mortar stores) saw a 17% decline in sales, whilst direct-to-consumer revenue was up 7% in the period.
It made a fourth quarter (GAAP) operating loss of US$84.8mln which was near double the US$44.9mln loss in the same period last year.
iRobot ended 2022 with US$117.9mln of cash and an inventory balance of US$285mln.