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Lisa Bertline
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Logistics startup Flexport said on Wednesday it will cut about 20% of its global workforce as shipping activity plummets and a new CEO refocuses on business. bottom.
In a message to employees, Flexport said, “The volume reduction, combined with increased efficiencies as a result of the new organizational and operational structure, means that we are overstaffing in various roles across the company.
After raising more than $2 billion in funding, the privately held company, one of the most valuable logistics startups, has declined to disclose how many employees were affected by the layoffs. At that point, Flexport employs at least 3,000 people and could face at least 600 layoffs.
Flexport is a fully licensed freight forwarder. It manages end-to-end sea, air, rail and road freight transportation. Its competitors include Kuehne + Nagel, DHL and United Parcel Service.
The move comes at a time when transportation companies, technology companies and venture capital-backed start-ups are freezing hiring or laying off workers as a global recession threatens. It is done.
Flexport’s retirement package for U.S. workers includes 12 weeks of severance pay, six months of extended health care and expedited stock vesting, Flexport said.
The company also said its plans to add about 400 engineers to double its technical team in 2023 remain unchanged.
The move was led by Dave Clark, who joined Flexport as co-CEO in September after 20 years at Amazon.com.
“The current slowdown in trading volumes will give us time to focus on building our tech bench while the economy remains stagnant,” said Flexport. (Reporting by Lisa Bertline, Los Angeles; Editing by Margherita Choi)