Veeam Software Corp., a private equity-owned data backup and recovery firm, cut 200 jobs this year despite growing sales.
The workforce reduction this spring came about two months after the Columbus company's CTO was quoted in a national business publication alongside other experts calling layoffs a poor long-term strategy.
Veeam through a spokesman declined to answer Columbus Inno's questions about geographic distribution of the cuts and remaining employees.
"During this transition, our priority is helping our people, both those affected by this decision and those who remain with Veeam, with the best care and support possible," the company said in a statement when the cuts were first announced in late March.
"We are a strong, profitable, fast-growing company," it said. "However from time to time we must make decisions about where we should invest and how we can drive efficiency in the way we go to market."
The company has about 5,000 employees today, a spokesman said via email. According to its website, Veeam has offices in 30 countries.
Large job cuts can damage a brand's reputation and harm future recruiting, Veeam CTO Danny Allan told Business Insider in a January story about mass layoffs in the tech industry affecting the spectrum from startups to giants like Amazon.
"Employees remember and people looking for jobs remember how organizations acted during the economic downturn," Allan told the publication.
Terminations also can harm future innovation and growth, he said.
"You're cutting your investment in future technology, that's No. 1," he told Insider. "No. 2, when you cut 10% of your workforce, you're sending the message to your employees that we care more about money than we do about you."
The company declined to answer questions about the comments.
The company has not filed a notice warning of job cuts with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, typically done when more than 50 local positions are affected.
Veeam in October named its office on Lyra Drive in the Polaris region its headquarters. Previously the company had declined to specify a head office since moving from Switzerland upon acquisition by Insight Partners for $5 billion in early 2020.
Other large U.S. offices are in suburban Atlanta and Boston.
Veeam's software bookings annualized to more than $1 billion yearly revenue as of 2021, according to its website.
Sales grew by 8% year over year, the company reported in late April, saying International Data Corp. ranked Veeam as faster-growing than the other top five competitors in data protection and ransomware recovery.
Veeam's founder, Ratmir Timashev, who left the company after the acquisition, in February through his family foundation donated $110 million to Ohio State University, his alma mater, to launch the Center for Software Innovation in the west-campus Carmenton innovation district. It was OSU's largest ever single gift.
The largest tech job cuts in Columbus, both in two separate waves, have been at Olive AI Inc., a combined 665 positions since July 2022, and Root Inc., a combined 490 staff in January and November 2022.
