Viasat cuts global workforce by 10 percent, including jobs in Carlsbad – San Diego Union-Tribune
Viasat cuts global workforce by 10 percent, including jobs in Carlsbad – San Diego Union-Tribune
Author: Natallie Rocha
Published on: 2023-11-02 20:21:40
Source: Technology – San Diego Union-Tribune
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Viasat is cutting its global workforce by 10 percent in an effort to streamline operations following its $6.1 billion acquisition of Inmarsat, the company announced Thursday.
While layoffs have beleaguered the tech industry lately — Qualcomm recently laid off 1,064 people in San Diego and Google just cut jobs in San Francisco — Viasat’s announcement is part of its focused strategy to get lean and invest more in its space business.
The layoff eliminates approximately 160 roles in Carlsbad, where Viasat is headquartered, out of the more than 800 impacted positions across divisions and locations, a company spokesperson said.
Viasat has about 6,800 employees as of March 31 with offices across North America, Europe and Asia. Most of the company’s employees are in the United States and Viasat will continue to operate there and in the United Kingdom.
The layoff expenses will cost Viasat roughly $45 million. It is expected to save Viasat about $100 million annually, starting in fiscal year 2025, which will also help the company maintain its budget goals that year.
“Since we completed the acquisition of Inmarsat, our focus has been on accelerating our leading role in global mobile satellite communications by converging our technologies and organizational structures to deliver enhanced products and services to our customers. We will continue working to better unify our go-to-market approach, and maximize operational and capital productivity,” said Guru Gowrappan, president of Viasat in the announcement.
He added that the announced reductions “are consistent with our goals to focus our spending toward our biggest growth opportunities and position Viasat for long-term success, while expanding margins and profitability.”
This move also tracks with Viasat’s continued efforts to offload debt and maintain free cash flow as it charges ahead investing more in space and ground technologies for Internet connectivity. For example, last year Viasat sold off its military communications unit to L3 Harris Technologies for $1.96 billion.
Viasat is also putting more of an emphasis on global mobility across commercial and government markets. The multi-billion dollar merger with Inmarasat was a big piece of Viasat’s big picture plan to beef up its satellite communications and networking business.
Earlier this year, Viasat launched a $700 million Internet satellite into space — the first of three — as it competes with the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink fleet, Amazon, OneWeb and others. However, a few months after launching into orbit, Viasat disclosed that the satellite’s antenna malfunctioned. Around the same time, another Internet satellite it inherited from Inmarasat reported issues.
Viasat’s $700 million satellite didn’t completely lose functionality, but it’s not expected to reach its full capacity for beaming Internet to Earth. But, instead of replacing it, Viasat said last month that it will submit a $420 million insurance claim and manage to meet customer needs with its next two satellite launches. Additionally, the company will replace the Inmarasat satellite and submit a $348 million insurance claim this year.
Viasat said that more details about the announced workforce reduction will be shared during its second quarter fiscal year 2024 earnings call on Nov. 8.
The company’s stock closed Thursday at $18.93, up $1.30.
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