Yesterday things happened at MakerBot. Layoffs. Closings.
The company posted an announcement on its blog saying:
Today, we at MakerBot are re-organizing our business in order to focus on what matters most to our customers. As part of this, we have implemented expense reductions, downsized our staff and closed our three MakerBot retail locations.
Rumors indicate the company let go approximately 100 of its staff this week, representing 20% of the staff.
In addition, the company closed its three retail storefronts, located in Boston, Greenwich CT and New York City.
Ironically, our team happened to visit the MakerBot store on Mulberry street in New York City literally the day before it closed (actual image at top). During our visit we saw very few customers, and thought it may be possible the company could close the store in the future.
The future turned out to be a single day forward.
Our understanding from insiders is that MakerBot was reducing positions made redundant by the presence of Stratasys corporate. It appears that after this move, MakerBot will be somewhat less of an independently operating entity than it was previously.
MakerBot will continue, of course, in a more efficient manner. They’ve grown massively over the past few years, perhaps more than any other personal 3D printer manufacturer. MakerBot’s brand new CEO, Jonathan Jaglom, appears to be streamlining the company’s operations by leveraging resources from Stratasys.
What does this mean? We suspect it means we see more “Stratasys” and less “MakerBot” in coming years.
Via MakerBot
