Momentive Global, the parent of the web-survey portal SurveyMonkey, laid off 11% of its workforce this week.
Multiple people across divisions — including those handling the business development, customer support, recruitment and sales at the San Mateo, California-headquartered company — have been impacted, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed.
“In an 8-K filed on October 13, we announced plans to reduce our headcount by 11%. We are undertaking this difficult change as part of a strategic shift as we streamline our focus and align our resources to our top priorities,” Hillary Wilson, senior communications manager at Momentive, said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch.
The company has also created an online spreadsheet that lists affected employees who have agreed to share their contact information for getting new jobs.
In the 8-K filing, Momentive described its layoff as part of a restructuring plan to “improve operating margin and create efficiencies”. The company said that it would incur between $4 million and $5 million in charges, which includes employee severance, employee benefits and related facilitation costs.
“We expect that the majority of these costs will be incurred and paid during the fourth quarter of 2022 and that execution of the restructuring plan, including cash payments, will be substantially complete by the end of fiscal 2022,” the company said in its filing.
It also noted that the process, which is impacting its global workforce, might extend into the first quarter or 2023 or beyond in certain countries.
The company said in the filing that it expects to have made between $119.5 million and $122.5 million in sales for the quarter that ended September 30, with a non-GAAP operating margin between 5-7%, both within previous guidance.
In February, software company Zendesk terminated its proposed $4.1 billion transaction to acquire Momentive after Zendesk’s stockholders rejected the acquisition. The all-stock deal was announced in October last year.
Shortly after its deal with Zendesk broke off, Momentive announced a $200 million share repurchase program to regain the confidence of its shareholders. At the time, it did not explicitly confirm whether it would continue to seek a buyer or plan to go solo.
“The setbacks we’ve faced are transient. We compete in a massive market and we maintain a valuable portfolio of products that address specific challenges our customers face, in small and large companies alike. Our sales-assisted business is strong, and our team is committed and inspired to drive value for our customers and shareholders,” Zander Lurie, chief executive officer of Momentive, said at the time.
Since then, the company’s share price has dropped more than 63%, from $15.72 to $5.66 on Friday.
Momentive is not the only tech company to shed employees in this layoff season. Companies including Netflix, Noom, Spotify and Tencent have taken similar moves in recent weeks and months due to ongoing economic challenges and projected business instability. Similarly, Indian startups including Byju’s and Ola have laid off hundreds of employees. Tech giants including Meta have also paused hiring to reduce their operational costs, while others appear to be turning to contractors to offset that pause.