Flexport set for another round of job cuts
29 / 01 / 2024
Reports suggest freight forwarder Flexport will make a third round of redundancies in just over a year.
Tech publication The Information last week reported that the forwarder will cut 20% of its staff, equating to around 500 people.
The company last year cut 20% of its staff in mid-January as it was overstaffed and followed this up with another 20% cut in October as it strived to return to profitability.
Air Cargo News has approached Flexport for a response.
The latest round of cuts comes in what has been a tumultuous 12 months for the forwarder.
In September, following on from the January cuts, it was announced that ex-Amazon logistics leader Dave Clark would leave the role of chief executive to be replaced by the firm’s founder and former boss Ryan Petersen.
After his exit from the company, Clark declared that Flexport is “facing serious internal and industry challenges”.
Shortly after the news broke, Petersen withdrew job offers for more than 75 people that he said were given jobs during a “hiring freeze”.
There were then a series of management departures, many of them hired by Clark.
Next came the October job cuts, with Petersen declaring that “Flexport is now in a great position to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us to return to profitability as soon as the end of next year”.
There were also several developments in terms of investment over the past year.
Last year, Flexport took over Shopify Logistics, including e-commerce fulfilment company Deliverr and a network of warehouses, as the company looked to extend the reach of its logistics offering.
The deal gave Shopify a 13% stake in Flexport. Also last year, Shopify invested further in Flexport as part of a funding round that raised a total of $935m.
Freight forwarder Flexport has raised $260m in funding from e-commerce platform Shopify.
Writing on X just last week, Flexport chief executive Ryan Petersen said the latest investment would further strengthen the firm’s cash position and “send a strong message to customers that Flexport is building a long-term sustainable business that will continue to deliver best-in-class technology and services for global businesses”.
“Our fortress balance sheet continues to be one of our most strategic assets as we navigate the uncertain waters of global trade in the 21st century in pursuit of this vision,” Petersen said.
He added that the company had “made massive progress” toward returning to profitability.
