Quiksilver is going through another round of layoffs today, with a large number of jobs impacted.
Unrelated to today’s layoffs, I have also learned that former Roxy President Susan Branch and Senior VP of Design Lisa Stemmler have both recently left the company. Branch was unhappy after her job responsibilities had been narrowed as a result of corporate restructuring, I am told.
After several difficult years, Roxy’s business had stabilized during Branch’s tenure and returned to growth, with a 4% increase in constant currency revenues in 2012. New CEO Andy Mooney has said in the past that he was quite bullish on Roxy’s prospects.
Marketing cuts
Today, the majority of layoffs are happening in marketing, as the company moves to globalize operations, executives said.
Instead of having three largely independent marketing divisions in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific regions, the company is streamlining the function to have one global marketing department for Quiksilver, one for Roxy and one for DC, an executive involved told me.
The cuts and globalization effort are part of Mooney’s plan to return the company to profitability and to remake Quiksilver for the future. That includes focusing brand messaging around the world.
He has repeatedly said that the job cuts will continue as the company strives to “right size” staff. More layoffs are expected going forward.
While Mooney is cutting staff in marketing this year, he has also said that he will increase spending in marketing overall next fiscal year, with a dramatic increase in advertising planned.
Internal memo
Here is the memo that Quiksilver Americas President Rob Colby sent to employees today.
“Hi Everyone,
“Many of you have undoubtedly heard that we had some layoffs in the Americas region today – all in relation to our ongoing efforts to globalize our company. Andy’s message from late May outlined our priorities of focusing on our core brands, globalizing, centralizing key functions, and lowering costs throughout the organization – all in an effort to advance our competitive position and increase profitability. Today’s decisions are obviously the challenging outcomes of these efforts – and we once again say goodbye to many of our dedicated fellow employees and friends. It is, however, important that we all continue working together and supporting our collective efforts to drive the future success of our business.
“We all have a well-deserved long holiday weekend coming up (beginning at 2:00 PM on Wednesday afternoon). Hope you will take the time to enjoy the days with family and friends – and return next Monday with your ongoing commitment, and energy to keep our momentum moving forward.
“Thanks for your support – and for all you do.”
