Roku is laying off another 10 percent of its staff and taking charges for additional restructuring moves, the company unveiled in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
It cited a “continuing evaluation of its operations” that led it to determine “to implement additional measures to continue to bring down its year-over-year operating expense growth rate by consolidating its office space utilization, performing a strategic review of its content portfolio, reducing outside services expenses, and slowing its year-over-year headcount expense growth rate through a workforce reduction and limiting new hires, among other measures.”
The workforce reduction is expected to hit approximately 10 percent of the company’s employees, Roku said. It expects to record a restructuring charge, the majority of which will be incurred in the current third quarter, related to the layoffs, “primarily consisting of severance and benefits costs,” in an estimated range of $45 million-$65 million. “The company further anticipates that the implementation of the workforce reduction, including cash payments, will be substantially complete by the end of the fourth quarter.”
The restructuring charge mentioned excludes charges related to the potential impairment of office facilities and content, the filing highlighted. In line with that, in the third quarter Roku also expects to record an impairment charge “in a preliminary estimated range of $160 million-$200 million related to ceasing to use certain office facilities and an impairment charge in a preliminary estimated range of $55 million-$65 million related to removing select existing licensed and produced content from company-operated services on its TV streaming platform,” the filing said.
