SF tech company Flexport has laid off hundreds more workers after a week of drama

San Francisco-based Flexport is facing a tough year financially, and drama is hitting Bay Area workers again.

Huge logistics technology startup Take advantage From a pandemic-era boom in shipping costs to raise hundreds of millions of dollars but is struggling to live up to those billings. In just one week in September, Flexport ousted its prominent CEO, trimmed his team of industry veterans and rescinded job offers with only days notice.

Now, about a month later, Flexport has announced hundreds of layoffs.

Those decisions fall to Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen, who regained control of the company in an acquisition in September. Petersen, a UC Berkeley alumnus, started Flexport in 2013. The company Announce Its core product is as a platform to connect the entire supply chain — an endeavor that has become especially profitable during the pandemic, when shipping costs have soared rose. Flexport raised a $935 million fundraising round in early 2022, led by technology pioneer Andreessen Horowitz; The round boosted Flexport’s valuation to $8 billion and total fundraising to $2.3 billion, CNBC mentioned.

A few months later, the company hired Dave Clark, a 23-year Amazon veteran who had built the tech giant’s logistics and fulfillment businesses into one of the world’s largest delivery systems. Petersen, V NB At the time, he wrote that Clark had done a “legendary” job and that his tenure as CEO ensured that Flexport would “live up to our potential.”

But the good feelings won’t last. After expanding the company’s scope to More than 3000 employees During the pandemic, Flexport Laid off – temporarily laid off About a fifth of its employees in January and thereafter Buyer Shopify’s logistics arm in May. according to the informationFlexport’s revenue fell nearly 70% in the first half of 2023.

Meanwhile, as had been planned since Clark’s addition, Petersen resigned after a period as co-CEO, leaving Clark to run the unprofitable company alone.

About six months later, on September 6, Petersen and Clark met to talk — sort of. Clark was shocked, according to a report by the information, when a Flexport board member joined Petersen on the call. The couple told Clark that his options were to resign immediately or be fired by the board the next day.

Clark announced his resignation On Xformerly known as Twitter, wrote that afternoon that he was proud of his work but that “the founders have the right to change their minds.”

It was Petersen behind On the position of CEO. Early the next morning, he said to publish On X: “Strategic Plan, Day 1: Make Better Decisions!” The next day, he said to publish that he was canceling dozens of offer letters, some to employees who were scheduled to start work only a few days later; He apologized but said “there’s no way around this” and that he hopes potential employees will forgive Flexport “one day.” Then it is Announce Plan to lease several offices, including one in San Francisco.

Petersen also fired at least five of Clark’s top aides, all of whom worked with Clark at Amazon, according to Amazon’s website. the information.

Now, about a month later, Petersen’s return to leadership of Flexport has reached a familiar and harsh point: another round of layoffs. chief executive officer Announce Job cuts were made by another 20% in a blog post on Thursday and I wrote that the layoffs would begin on Friday, with nine weeks of severance pay for US employees – less than Many other technology companies Submitted this year.

By midday, engineers and designers were flocking to LinkedIn to bid farewell to Flexport and their former colleagues.

Have you heard of anything going on at Flexport or any other tech company? Contact technology reporter Stephen Council securely at stephen.council@sfgate.com or on Signal at 628-204-5452.