A memo distributed on Monday by the CEO of Sirius XM, obtained and shared by The New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin, has shed light on a large round of layoffs the nation’s subscription-based satellite radio company has decided to undertake.
The job cuts come as Sirius XM’s stock flirts with closing prices last seen in October 2016.
News of the reduction-in-force, impacting 8% of the company’s employee roster, or 475 individuals, appeared to be welcomed by investors, as SIRI reversed downward activity on the Nasdaq GlobalSelect market and was up 1% as of 11:30am Eastern, to $4.2950.
In a company memo, Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Witz shared the “difficult news,” noting that “after a review of our business, we have made the decision to reduce the size of our workforce by 475 roles, or 8%.”
Unfortunately, Witz added, “This will mean saying goodbye to talented colleagues across the organization.”
As such, Monday was a work day where impacted employees received invitations to join meetings with their respective leader and a member of the HR team, which Sirius XM terms “People + Culture.” Witz acknowledged that March 6 would be a “challenging day,” expressing her “deepest gratitude” for those exiting the company. “This was not an easy decision to make, nor one we took lightly,” she added. “However, it is critical for us to take the right steps now to secure the long-term health and profitability of our business.”
How did Sirius XM get to this day? Witz explained, “We are entering into a new phase for our company.” With investments made in the last year coupled with “today’s uncertain economic environment,” the Sirius XM C-Suite was required to rethink the organization’s structure.
As shared in November, the 2023 planning process included an enterprise-wide review of Sirius XM’s business “to identify opportunities for greater agility and efficiency.”
That effort included identifying areas in which Sirius XM could limit discretionary spending to minimize the impact of any additional needs for staff reductions. “We streamlined our non-headcount costs by reducing content and marketing spend, decreasing our real estate footprint, and most recently, implementing tighter restrictions in our Travel and Entertainment policy,” Witz said.
That said, cutting the payroll, she added, “was required for us to maintain a sustainably profitable company.”
Nearly every department across Sirius XM will be impacted, Witz said.
