As rumours that the company has received a takeover bid from a private equity firm swirl, cybersecurity firm Rapid7 has announced that it is laying off approximately 18 per cent of its workforce, or about 470 employees. In a regulatory filing, the company said this will result in US$24 – US$32 million in restructuring costs, noting that the plan “is designed to improve operational efficiencies, reduce operating costs and better align the Company’s workforce with current business needs, top strategic priorities and key growth opportunities.”
It also plans to close “certain office locations”, at a cost of US$4 million. It currently has ten locations across the U.S..
Chief executive officer Corey Thomas said in an email to employees, reposted as a blog, “At this inflection point, we will be strategically refocusing and realigning our business toward expanding our MDR (managed detection and response) leadership across all of security operations, accelerating our investments to build the most adoptable cloud capabilities, and continuing our focus on aligning our operations to deliver the best engagement and support for our customers.” He also reassured remaining employees that “you will see an immediate focus on our strategic direction to ensure you are not absorbing additional work, renewed processes to drive innovation, and tight collaboration to ensure we don’t repeat past patterns.”
