Seattle-based app security and delivery company F5 Inc. (Nasdaq: FFIV) has laid off about 100 employees, the company confirmed to the Business Journal on Monday.
An F5 spokesperson said the company is still hiring in targeted areas.
"We are continuously evaluating how to focus our resources to best meet the needs of our customers, while also being disciplined about our investment priorities," the spokesperson said in an email to the Business Journal. "Given the current macroeconomic environment, last week we announced changes internally that resulted in the elimination of a number of positions across the company."
The company says it has about 6,900 employees.
F5 was founded in 1996 and went public in 1999. The company's services include app security, fraud prevention, cloud services and automation technology. The company acquired the app security and deployment company Volterra in January 2021 for about $500 million. F5 closed the $68 million acquisition of the cloud security company Threat Stack in October of 2021.
October tech layoffs
Seattle-based real estate tech company Zillow laid off roughly 300 workers in late October, following successive quarters of reduced headcount. After it shuttered its direct homebuying service in November 2021, it let go of roughly 25% of its workforce over the next few quarters. By the end of the first half of 2022, the company's full-time headcount had dropped even further — about 28% — from 8,005 to 5,791, the company disclosed in an August regulatory filing.
Seattle-based freight network startup Convoy had a second round of layoffs this year in October, but didn't disclose how many. In April, weeks after a $260 million funding round, the company laid off about 90 people. At the time of its April funding round, Convoy had about 1,300 employees with 800 of them based in Washington.
Seattle-based app security and delivery company F5 laid off about 100 employees in late October, but like other companies is still "hiring in targeted areas." The company cited problems with the current "macroenvironment," requiring a shift in spending priorities. Before the latest round of layoffs, the company had about 6,900 total employees, with 1,500 based in the Puget Sound region.
Former TwinStrand Biosciences employees have taken to LinkedIn to say they were laid off from the company recently. Multiple employees said "nearly half the company" was laid off. The company also moved former CEO Jesse Salk (pictured) to the chief scientific officer role and named former NanoString Technologies executive Chad Brown as interim CEO.
Seattle-based online cannabis marketplace Leafly Holdings Inc. is reducing its headcount by 56 employees, or 21% of its total workforce. The reduced headcount, announced last month, will come through both layoffs and natural attrition. Leafly said in a regulatory filing the reduction would finish by the end of the year. “These reductions will help preserve our ability to respond to opportunities as this industry continues to mature and expand,” Yoko Miyashita, CEO of Leafly, said in a release.
A security company that contracts with Amazon.com Inc. is laying off 1,203 workers in Seattle and Kent, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed with the state of Washington. Allied Universal Security Services said in its filing that the layoffs are permanent and will begin Dec. 19. An Allied Universal spokesperson confirmed the WARN notice and said it affects employees at Amazon locations where the company's security services will come to an end later this year. The spokesperson added Allied Universal doesn't expect the affected employees to be unemployed after the transition.
Redmond-based tech giant Microsoft is laying off "under 1,000" employees in multiple teams and organizations, the company confirmed after a report in Axios in mid-October. However, it's been mum on further details, much like it was for a small round of layoffs in July, and wouldn't disclose which cities would be most affected. In an emailed statement, Microsoft described the layoffs as an evaluation of "business priorities" and said it would "continue to invest in our business and hire in key growth areas in the year ahead.”
Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon had a quick round of layoffs after its relatively weak third quarter earnings in late October. The company let go about 150 people from its Amp live radio division on Oct. 28. In early October the company told employees it was enacting a hiring freeze for corporate and retail tech roles that would run to at least January.
Seattle-based cybersecurity firm ExtraHop Networks Inc. laid off a small number of employees, the company confirmed to the Business Journal last month. Still, Sweety Rath, ExtraHop's vice president of human resources, said in an email the company has grown its headcount 30% so far this year and plans to continue hiring next year. ExtraHop CEO Patrick Dennis in February told the Business Journal the company had roughly 500 employees.
F5 rebranded in November 2021, dropping "Networks" from its name. The company initially started as a tool to help clients smoothly run their website, but the company has been moving further into the app and cloud spaces recently.
"Our name — F5 Networks — no longer defines who we are or what we do," Mika Yamamoto, F5's chief marketing officer, wrote in the blog post announcing the rebrand last year. "Today’s F5 isn’t just about load balancing websites. To mark this significant departure from the company founded back in 1996, I’m very excited to share today that we have taken the final steps to officially be known as F5 Inc."
In its 2022 fiscal fourth quarter earnings results, released Tuesday, F5 reported $700 million in quarterly revenue, a 3% year-over-year increase.
