Thermo Fisher, Akamai, iRobot eliminate jobs in latest local layoffs – The Boston Globe

Layoffs have hit three publicly traded companies in the Massachusetts tech and life sciences sector this week, affecting hundreds of employees.

Cambridge-based technology firm Akamai is laying off 2.5 percent of its worldwide workforce as it continues to sharpen its focus on cloud computing and data security.

During the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Thursday, Akamai chief executive Tom Leighton said the job cuts are related to the company’s ongoing transformation. Born in 1998 to provide efficient delivery of large amounts of online data, Akamai today derives most of its revenue from providing cybersecurity services and cloud computing. Leighton announced further investments to sustain the strong growth in these segments, to be funded by cutting 2.5 percent of the company’s global workforce, which stood at 10,250 as of December 2023. If that figure is still accurate, that works out to about 256 lost jobs.

“This was a painful decision because it impacts our people whose innovation and drive have been an important part of our success,” Leighton said. An Akamai spokesperson declined to provide the exact number of job cuts, where they would take place, or which departments would be affected. Akamai said it employs about 1,500 people in Massachusetts.

The cuts will be made primarily in sales and marketing, while also removing some middle management, Needham & Co. analyst Matt Dezort said in a report Friday morning. Akamai estimated annual savings of $45 million which most likely will be “aggressively invested back into the security and compute businesses, with a focus on adding more ‘hunters’ to the sales team,” Dezort wrote.

Akamai also announced third-quarter revenue of $1.005 billion, up 4 percent year-over-year, though net income of $58 million was down 64 percent from the previous year.

News of the Akamai job cuts came two days after troubled consumer robot maker iRobot said it would lay off 105 employees as part of an ongoing restructuring.

“Since the start of 2024, we have now reduced our global workforce by approximately 50 percent,” said iRobot chief executive Gary Cohen. “This transformation is essential to improve our performance and generate long-term shareholder value.”

IRobot, headquartered in Bedford, generated $193.4 million in revenue during the third quarter of 2024, up 4 percent from the previous year. Its net loss of 21 cents per share was much improved from the $2.86 per share loss in the same period last year.

IRobot has been battered by tough competition from rival robot makers such as Needham-based SharkNinja. The company was also damaged by a failed acquisition attempt by online giant Amazon, which was scuttled early this year after antitrust regulators in Europe and the US signaled their disapproval.

Meanwhile, Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Waltham-based life sciences firm and the most valuable company in Massachusetts by market capitalization, told the state Thursday that it would reduce its headcount by 160 employees across its Lexington, Plainville, and Cambridge sites.

Thermo’s viral vector manufacturing facility in Lexington, which opened in 2019 to strengthen the company’s focus on gene therapies, is expected to close in the future, the company said. At that point, its operations will move to the firm’s Plainville plant, which opened in 2022.

“This decision allows us to better optimize resources across our manufacturing network and help our customers accelerate innovation and enhance productivity,” Thermo Fisher said in a statement.

The job cuts will take place between January 2025 and November 2026, the company told the state. “All impacted colleagues will receive job transition support to aid them in finding new opportunities,” it said.

As of Friday stock market close, the company had a market cap of $211 billion.

A spokesperson for Thermo Fisher said the company has more than 4,000 employees in Massachusetts, meaning that the layoffs amount to about a 4 percent reduction in its workforce in the state.

Aaron Pressman of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeTechLab. Dana Gerber can be reached at dana.gerber@globe.com. Follow her @danagerber6.