Medtronic
(NYSE: MDT)
today confirmed a global layoffs first reported last month by MassDevice.
At the time, a spokesperson for the world’s largest medical device company declined to confirm the Medtronic layoffs when asked, only saying “Medtronic continually evaluates its operations and aligns our resources with our highest strategic priorities.”
Today, the company reiterated that messaging, adding in a statement to the Star Tribune in Minneapolis that the efforts mean “the company will reduce roles across our global workforce.”
Reached for comment by MassDevice today, the Medtronic spokesperson again declined to confirm the cuts or offer more details.
“There’s nothing new here,” the spokesperson emailed. “The Strib wrote based on [MassDevice’s] previous reporting.”
It’s hard to tell how deep Medtronic has cut its workforce in recent years through reorganizations or last year’s voluntary early retirement program.
“Our top priority is restoring our earnings power — full stop,” Medtronic CEO and Chair Geoff Martha said in January, citing the reorganizations as part of that effort. That same day, he announced plans to close at least five manufacturing sites and consolidate eight distribution centers to two “super distribution centers.”
Medtronic declined to offer details on those plans.
Medtronic layoffs are difficult to quantify because the company does not publicly share details of job cuts except what is required by state laws covering mass layoffs.
The company approximates its global headcount as more than 95,000 in recent annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s more than any other company on Medical Design & Outsourcing‘s Medtech Big 100, which ranks the world’s largest medical device companies by revenue.
In disclosures of CEO compensation compared to pay for its median employee, Medtronic said it had:
- 101,867 employees in February 2022,
- 97,848 in January 2021,
- 96,204 in January 2020,
- 92,559 in January 2019,
- and 89,376 in January 2018.
Related: The 10 largest medtech employers of 2023 – and what their employees really think
Medtronic announced full-year financial and operating results for fiscal 2024 last month. Revenue increased 3.6% to $32.4 billion (slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of $32.2 billion). Full-year profits, at non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $5.20, came in right on target as expected by Wall Street.
Total net income for fiscal 2024 decreased 2% year-over-year to $3.71 billion. Medtronic officials said they expect EPS growth to accelerate in fiscal 2025, in part due to what they characterized as more discipline on headcount and expenses.
Medtronic’s revenue and profits both dropped from 2022 to 2023, leading to a year-over-year decrease in pay for Martha and EVP and CFO Karen Parkhill. Medtronic also modified its Medtronic Incentive Plan (MIP) after senior executives missed financial performance targets and received no MIP bonuses.
Medtronic has not yet reported fiscal 2024 executive compensation, which will be subject to an advisory say-on-pay vote by investors at this year’s annual meeting. Medtronic also has yet to announce the time or place of that annual meeting, which moved to October last year for the first time since the company moved its headquarters from Fridley, Minnesota to Dublin, Ireland.
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