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Blue Apron Holdings
Inc.
said it would lay off more workers, as the meal-kit company struggles to turn a profit.
The New York-based company on Tuesday said it would lay off around 4%, or around 100 jobs, out of its workforce of roughly 2,500. The majority of workers are salaried, and the job cuts don’t impact warehouse employees, officials said.
The layoffs would cut costs by $16 million. Blue Apron said it would pay out in its fourth-quarter roughly $1.6 million in severance payments related to the layoffs.
The layoffs were “across the whole organization” chief executive Brad Dickerson said in an interview.
Blue Apron’s shares dropped roughly 2% after-hours. The stock is down about 70% this year, as the meal-kit pioneer has shed customers and fought operational problems at a new factory. The company hasn’t turned a profit since going public last year.
Meal-kit companies have struggled to retain customers that have balked at the commitment to pay for delivery subscriptions. Investors have questioned the sector’s viability, as dozens of startups have arrived targeting an array of diets and cuisines.
Blue Apron said it had 646,000 customers at the end of September, a quarter fewer than a year earlier. Orders and revenue per customer also dropped from the prior quarter ending in June.
Rival HelloFresh SE, whose shares have fallen about 11% this year, said on Tuesday that it had 1 million U.S. customers in its third-quarter, up from 790,000 a year earlier. The Berlin-based company said its profit fell as it invested more in the competitive U.S. market.
Blue Apron also said in a filing that it was terminating its chief marketing officer. Mr. Dickerson said he left to pursue other opportunities.
Blue Apron also laid off workers last year. Two of its co-founders also stepped down.
Blue Apron is trying to sell more of its boxed meals outside of subscriptions. The company is selling meals in New York via delivery services
Grubhub
Inc.
and sister brand Seamless and announced a deal last month to sell its kits on
Walmart
Inc.’s
e-commerce site, Jet.com. Blue Apron meals are also on sale at
Costco Wholesale
Corp.
stores.
Blue Apron incurred a net loss of $34 million in the third quarter and reported an adjusted loss of 18 cents per share during the quarter. Revenue came in at $151 million, a 28% decrease since last year’s period. Blue Apron said reduced marketing, as the company worked to overhaul its business, weighed on revenue.
Write to Heather Haddon at [email protected]
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