As part of its quest to reduce spending by $40 million to $60 million annually, Quiksilver laid off a total of 125 people today and yesterday at Quiksilver headquarters in Huntington Beach, its Mira Loma distribution center and at DC Shoes.
All told, 200 positions were eliminated.
A company spokesman said Quiksilver has created a new operating structure in the Americas.
Previously, the company operated under a silo approach for each of its brands, with separate sales, marketing, merchandising and design and production and sourcing departments.
Now many of those functions will be consolidated across brands, and top management in those functions will oversee multiple brands.
Consolidation also occurred at the corporate level, with some employees taking on additional responsibilities.
The goal is to gain economies of scale and leverage resources.
We expect to hear more details tomorrow about the new structure and how it will work.
Quiksilver has gone through enormous changes in the past few years as its purchase of Rossignol went south, and its substantial debt and the recession put the company in financial peril.
To stabilize company finances, private equity firm Rhone loaned the company $150 million at a 15% interest rate, and the deal entitled Rhone to purchase shares representing up to a 20% ownership stake in Quiksilver at roughly $1.86 per share. Rhone also has two board seats.
There have also been a lot of executive changes. Departed executives include former Quiksilver Americas President Marty Samuels, former Roxy President Carol Christopherson, former DC President Nick Adcock and former DC Americas General Manager Mark Miller.
Quiksilver has also experienced several rounds of layoffs.
In January, the company eliminated 200 positions in the Americas region. In August, DC’s workforce was reduced by approximately 10%.
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