Luminant Announces Layoffs, Reorganizes
Hounded by a hostile market and a cash crunch, the onlineconsultancy axes 75 and vows a swift return to growth.
With a sagging valuation and dwindling cash reserves, i-shop Luminant this week said it has launched a turnaround plan to return to “sequential growth and profitability,” according to a company statement.
Chief executive officer Jim Corey and an executive-level task force developed the 100-day plan for the Dallas-based firm. The plan entails “immediate” expense reductions and organizational changes, according to the company.
One of these provisions includes a headcount reduction of about 7 percent, or about 75 employees — slimming the firm down to about 950.
“We’re moving swiftly and decisively to find ways to take cost out of our operations without impacting client performance,” said Corey, who took the top post in late September after the firm announced the resignation of Guillermo Marmol to pursue unspecified independent business ventures.
That resignation coincided with the company’s announcement that it would post a loss instead of an expected profit due to the ad spending slowdown.
Luminant has been in market trouble for several weeks, following a slow sell-off that began in January. In late September, the firm’s stock price hit a low of $1.50 after its earnings warning and Marmol’s resignation. The company has been trading around the $2 mark since.
With less than $9 million in cash, the company is also feeling a major cash crunch.
Luminant said internal procedures and policies would be revamped and operating budgets combined to reduce expenses, though it did not disclose specifics.
“Our mission is to make sure every aspect of the company is profitable,” Corey said.
The company’s delivery and business development units also will be restructured.
“These moves are important organizational shifts for our company,” said Corey. “Placing delivery under national leadership will ensure that we apply resources with maximum effectiveness. We can improve utilization and further tailor our staffing against projects.”
“In business development, the new national leadership structure will allow us to improve coordination in prospecting efforts,” he added. “We also will be able to provide higher levels of support in proposal development.”
