This article has been updated from a previous version to provide further details and a comment from a company spokesperson.
NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Thirty-two ABI employees, 13 of whom are involved in the company’s LC-MS product line, are losing their jobs, the company revealed in its annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last month.
The employees were notified by May 31 and are expected to be terminated by Dec. 31, the company said in the filing.
An ABI spokesperson told GenomeWeb Daily News today that the cuts are part of a "rebalancing" of the company's business to place more of a focus on its business in Asia, and particularly China. He added that the global headcount for the company's mass spec business has remained the same or "possibly increased."
ABI "has not taken any action to reduce the headcount in its mass spec business," he said.
As a result of the reduction in workforce, ABI took a $4.7 million pre-tax charge in its fiscal fourth quarter, ended June 30, for severance costs. The figure includes a $700,000 charge related to the ABI/MDS Analytical Technologies business, resulting from the “realignment of the Applied Biosystems group to support its strategic growth priorities and the decision at MDS to resize and refocus its development process,” ABI said in the filing.
ABI, which is awaiting final approvals for its $6.7 billion merger with Invitrogen, and MDS have a 50/50 joint venture for mass spectrometry instruments.
ABI brought in revenues of $609 million for the three-month period ended June 30, up 9 percent over the fourth quarter of 2007.