Evernote Corp. has laid off most of its United States and Chile based employees, the company announced over the weekend.
The 19-year-old company, which was an early player in the productivity space with its application to help with note taking and storage, said the move was to "boost operational efficiency."
Evernote will ditch its Redwood City headquarters at 2400 Broadway as well as its other U.S. offices in Austin, San Diego and Bothell, Wash. It's also leaving a software development center in Santiago, Chile,
The company intends to move all operations to Europe under its parent company Bending Spoons S.p.A, a mobile app developer based in Milan, Italy. The company did not say if Evernote was moving to Milan, only that it was relocating to Europe.
Bending Spoons acquired Evernote last November for an undisclosed amount. Before its acquisition, Evernote had raised a total of $290 million with its last fundraise taking place in 2014, according to Crunchbase.
"Going forward, a dedicated (and growing) team based in Europe will continue to assume ownership of the Evernote product," Evernote CEO Francesco Patarnello said in the company’s announcement. "This team will be in an ideal position to leverage the extensive expertise and strength of the 400-plus workforce at Bending Spoons, many of whom have been working on Evernote full-time since the acquisition."
Evernote began communicating the layoffs to staff last week, though the number of people who are losing their jobs was not disclosed. Those affected were offered 16 weeks of severance, up to one year of health insurance and a performance bonus, according to the company's statement.
The Business Journal reached out to Evernote and Bending Spoons but did not receive immediate comment.
The move represents the second time in less than a year that the company has announced layoffs to its staff. Bending Spoon made the move in February to lay off 129 Evernote workers, according to TechCrunch. The move affected those in the product design, marketing, customer service, sales, human resources and engineering departments.
According to Pitchbook Data, Evernote once enjoyed an over $1 billion valuation, but due to several complaints about the app’s buggy software, executive changes and a crowded market the company has struggled to keep up.
