This story has been updated to include comments from PacBio CEO Christian Henry.
NEW YORK – Pacific Biosciences has laid off 195 employees as part of cost cuts announced earlier this month as the firm reported disappointing preliminary financial results for the first quarter.
"Virtually all functions in all regions of the world" were affected by the layoffs, CEO Christian Henry told GenomeWeb.
In addition to the layoffs, the firm will be closing its San Diego location — the former site of Omniome, which PacBio acquired in 2021 — to consolidate R&D at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters. The majority of positions at that facility were eliminated, Henry noted.
The layoffs reduce the sequencing instrument company's headcount by nearly 25 percent compared to the 796 full-time staffers it employed at the end of 2023, according to its annual shareholder report.
PacBio reported earlier this month that its revenues for Q1 are expected to be flat year over year, missing internal and Wall Street expectations. The firm said it would cut operating costs by $50 million to $75 million per year. Henry reiterated that PacBio will continue to develop a benchtop long-read instrument and a high-throughput short-read instrument.
"Strategically we're making the right decisions but the external environment is such that we are not growing quite as fast as we expected," Henry said.
In Tuesday morning trading on the Nasdaq, shares of PacBio were up 6 percent at $1.70.