Medtronic is laying off 268 of its Twin Cities, MN-area employees as part of cuts it announced in February, the Twin Cities Business Journal reported Wednesday. Brian Henry, a spokesman for the company, said the layoffs were across all divisions and job functions.
"We are globally restructuring our business to align with our customers' needs and with the current business environment," Henry said, as quoted by Minnesota Public Radio. "We're going to continue to invest where the business is growing, and we're to streamline our business where growth is slowing. And we have begin this week to notify employees whose positions have been eliminated."
Back in February, the company announced that it was planning to cut up to 2,000 jobs--roughly four to five percent of its workforce. The announcement came as the company reported its FY 2011 Q3 financial results, during which it cut its full-year earnings forecast. At the time, the company says in order to position itself for long-term sustainable growth, it will restructure its business.
Since then, the company has informed healthcare supply contracting company Novation that it's cancelling five contracts for cardiovascular and orthopedic products valued at $2 billion. The devicemaker said it wants to negotiate device prices directly with hospitals, rather than through a national GPO contract. In addition, Medtronic said earlier this month that it is combining its U.S. cardiac and vascular group sales as of May 1.
- get more from the Twin Cities Business Journal
- check out the Minnesota Public Radio story