Malwarebytes laid off at least 100 employees this week, adding to the spread of cybersecurity vendors that have cut staff while navigating a tumultuous market.
The California-based antivirus and endpoint protection firm laid off approximately 100 to 110 employees this week, CEO Marcin Kleczynski told TechCrunch. Malwarebytes did not respond to questions from Cybersecurity Dive.
The job cuts come less than a week after Malwarebytes acquired Cyrus Security, eight months after private equity firm Vector Capital invested $100 million in the business, and one year after the company cut 125 employees, about 14% of its workforce at the time.
The layoffs followed the dismissal of the company’s CIO, CTO and chief product officer, an unnamed former employee told TechCrunch. Greg Higham, who served as Malwarebytes CIO since July 2018, updated his LinkedIn page earlier this month to reflect he’s no longer with the company.
Kleczynski described the layoffs as part of a plan to split the company into separate businesses focusing on consumer and business products, according to TechCrunch.
Cyrus Security could bolster that plan by providing data privacy and identity protection services to individuals and organizations.
The layoffs underscore significant alterations afoot in the security sector, as the industry’s largest vendors claim share from smaller rivals and organizations pursue consolidated spending with vendors claiming end-to-end capabilities.
Rapid7 announced plans to cut 18% of its workforce, more than 400 employees, and shutter multiple offices as part of a restructuring plan earlier this month, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SecureWorks also earlier this month said it will cut 15% of its workforce, six months after it cut 9% of its staff, according to SEC filings.
These struggles for small- and midsized-vendors come as industry heavyweights report big gains. Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike reported better-than-expected and record earnings, respectively, this month.
