Jawbone ‘Streamlining’ Strategy Brings Layoffs

At the height of the hands-free movement of the early 2000s, Jawbone was one of the device manufacturers that showed consumers a view of what the Bluetooth-enabled future might look like. However, today’s news on Jawbone’s health might hint that something drastic needed to be done to stick around long enough to see that future.

TechCrunch reported that Jawbone has embarked on a mass of layoffs, including 60 employees in its New York City, Sunnyvale and Pittsburgh offices. This 15 percent reduction in Jawbone’s workforce means its NYC branch will be completely shuttered, while other offices will experience moderate downsizing. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Jawbone explained to TechCrunch that the moves are a difficult but necessary part of optimizing the business for future success.

“Jawbone’s success over the past 15 years has been rooted in its ability to evolve and grow dynamically in a rapidly scaling marketplace,” the spokesperson said. “As part of our strategy to create a more streamlined and successful company, we have made the difficult decision to reorganize the company, which has had an impact on our global workforce. We are sad to see colleagues go, but we know that these changes, while difficult for those impacted, will set us up for greater success.”

Ars Technica explained that Jawbone received a bit of good news recently when Oprah placed its line of “Up” fitness tracker wristbands on her top list of Christmas gifts for the season, but it’s clear that not even a solid gold recommendation from Oprah could save 15 percent of Jawbone’s employees. In fact, Jawbone’s stock had been falling for some time, and the company now ranks behind Fitbit, Apple, Xiaomi, Garmin and Samsung as the sixth most popular fitness tracker manufacturer on the market.

Jawbone’s fortunes may turn when its Up4 wristband — the first such product to offer NFC payments support with American Express — but a significant portion of the company’s human resources won’t be around to see either way.