Roku fires 6% of its workforce in restructuring move

Roku is re-strategizing and cutting about 200 employees, which is about 6% of its workforce from its business, according to a company filing on Thursday, Bloomberg reports.

The streaming device manufacturer hopes to prioritize projects that bolster the company’s development through a giant return on investment. As regards this, the new filing disclosed that restructuring would lead to the “exit and sublease” of some office space the company considers void.

Techcrunch reported that the company’s decision would incur an estimated $30 to $35 million in non-recurring charges related to matters like severance costs, notice pay, employee benefit contributions and other related costs to the cease of use of its office facilities.

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What is Roku saying?

Roku disclosed that it anticipates a high sum of those charges would be incurred in the first quarter of this year. Therefore, the company intends to make headcount reductions and the cash payments will be “substantially complete” by the end of the second quarter of this year.

Last November, when Roku dismissed 200 US staff, it stated that the obvious economic conditions triggered layoffs as the company necessitated the slowdown of its operating expenses. This was announced in the tech company’s third-quarter results, where its investors were hinted ahead of an unsatisfactory fourth quarter.

However, Roku exceeded its sales projections in its most recent financial report, which was released in February, and reported total net revenue of $867.1 million for Q4 2022. Analysts projected a 7% year-over-year fall to $804.19 million, but it had forecast revenue to be in the neighbourhood of $800 million.

Also, it stated that it anticipated 70 million active users worldwide by the end of 2022, an increase from 65.4 million in Q3. Nonetheless, Roku’s operating losses increased to $249.9 million from the prior quarter’s loss of $147 million.

The corporation did not disclose positions or locations that would be affected by this most recent round of layoffs.

Asides from Roku, other tech companies have also cut their workforce cuts over the past few months. This month, Amazon, Meta, and other companies took the same action.

About Roku

Roku. founded in October 2002, is a publicly listed American corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, that creates a range of digital media players for streaming video. In addition to selling advertising, Roku grants licenses for its hardware and software to other businesses.

Starting at just $29.99, its streaming players are inexpensive, and a range of TV makers sell Roku Televisions at competitive pricing. Both utilizing the company’s device and watching free channels are free monthly.

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