Canon gives more details on layoffs
Article published by Newsday newspaper of New York and New Jersey
- Company apparently terminated between 100 and 150 employees in the U.S.
- Job cuts represent between 9% and 14% of workforce in U.S., which totaled 1,081 in 12/2023
- “there were position eliminations”; stated Sammy Kobayashi, president and CEO of Canon
- To “streamline operations and promote efficiency in order to achieve the necessary levels of performance that are required to meet our targets and remain competitive”
- “We aim to achieve our fourth consecutive year of sales and profit growth”
- “will support the company’s ability to make decisions in a faster and more agile way”
- Eliminated employees received severance package that includes salary, healthcare benefits and outplacement services
- The downsizing comes 7 months after Canon received $7 million in taxpayer funded tax breaks over next 12 years from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency (SCIDA) of New York
- Received breaks after reportedly threatening to vacate its new headquarters in Melville, NY
- Had already received a $35 million incentive package in 2007, which assisted company is spending $500 million on new Melville facility in 2013
- For the $7 million break, Canon pledged to retain all of its employees who earn, on average, $112,230 per year and to invest $8.4 million on facility improvements
- The newspaper contacted Kelly Murphy, the CEO of SCIDA to ask if Canon violated its commitments and she replied:
- We will “continue to monitor the situation”