5 Companies That Had A Rough Week

The Week Ending Aug. 5

Topping this week's roundup of companies that had a rough week was security technology developer FireEye, which launched a major restructuring this week and began laying off 10 percent of its workforce.

Also making the list were Fortinet, which is also working through a round of layoffs; Ciber, for its increasingly long road back to growth and profitability; SevOne's round of layoffs; and the departure of Symantec's CMO.

Not everyone in the IT industry was having a rough go of it this week. For a rundown of companies that made smart decisions, executed savvy strategic moves – or just had good luck – check out this week's Five Companies That Came To Win roundup.

FireEye Laying Off 10 Percent Of Its Workforce Amid Major Restructuring

It was a tough week for security software developer FireEye and even tougher to be a FireEye employee. Thursday the company said it would cut about 10 percent of its workforce, about 400 employees, in a major restructuring after reporting a $139.3 million second-quarter loss.

CEO Kevin Mandia said there has been a dramatic shift in the security threat environment with more small-scale ransomware attacks and fewer large-scale attacks. While the company reported a 19 percent revenue increase for the second quarter, the changing dynamics of the security market resulted in the vendor significantly reducing its sales outlook for the rest of the year.

The restructuring and layoffs are expected to impact staffing, discretionary spending and infrastructure across a wide swath of the company.

Fortinet Lays Off Multiple VPs, 100 Sales And Marketing

FireEye wasn't the only security technology vendor undertaking wrenching restructurings and layoffs this week. Sources told CRN that Fortinet laid off around 100 employees Wednesday, with its sales and marketing operations hardest hit, along with two company vice presidents.

The cutbacks were said to account for about 2 percent of the vendor's overall workforce.

The cutbacks are seen as part of ongoing issues within Fortinet's sales and market departments. Earlier this year the company announced a reorganization of its sales force. But in the vendor's recent second-quarter earnings call top executives said the benefits of that reorganization had yet to "fully materialize."

Ciber's Return To Growth, Profitability "Painfully Slow"

Delays in legacy projects and uncertainty around the future of European operations plagued Ciber in its most recent quarter, sending the solution provider's stock price plunging to a 22-year low.

This week the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based company reported a $51.7 million net loss in its recently completed second quarter and a sales decline of more than 16 percent. The news shows that the company's on-going efforts to turn itself around still have a ways to go.

"Ciber's return to growth and profitability will be painfully slow as it reflects our efforts to offset many years of under-investment in key businesses and new offerings," said CEO Michael Boustridge during the company's earnings call.

It was also disclosed this week that Ciber erroneously issued bonuses of $760,000 and $100,000 to Boustridge and CFO Christian Metzger, respectively, due to miscommunication at the committee level. Both have agreed to repay the money.

SevOne Reportedly Lays Off Up To 40 Percent Of Its Workforce

This would seem to be the week for tough rounds of layoffs. SevOne, a Wilmington, Del.-based digital infrastructure management company, was reported to have laid off as much as 40 percent of its workforce this week, according to a Delaware News Journal story.

This round of layoffs follows an earlier round of cutbacks in March that reportedly affected about 10 percent of the company's workforce.

Symantec Loses CMO To ServiceNow

In what was an otherwise good week for Symantec, CRN learned that Chief Marketing Officer Dan Rogers left the company to become CMO at cloud IT service provider ServiceNow.

Symantec closed its $4.65 billion acquisition of Blue Coat this week and Blue Coat CEO Greg Clark took over as Symantec's CEO while Blue Coat president and COO Michael Fey assumed those same posts at Symantec. The company quickly announced that Michael Williams, Blue Coat's marketing senior vice president, had ben tapped to fill Rogers' job.