Burton Snowboards announced in an email to staff on Wednesday that it would lay off 40 employees out of a 900-person workforce.
John Lacy, Burton president, told employees that the layoffs were the result of “unfavorable weather, global economic instability and a challenged retail landscape.” Cuts were made across the board.
“Unfortunately our business is not immune to these realities,” Lacy wrote. “So in response, we’ve had to make very tough decisions, the hardest one being our action today to reduce the size of our global workforce by almost 4 percent.”
Lacy said Burton will streamline the business and “maximize opportunities, with the objective to re-stabilize success today and in the future.”
“I am confident we have the right focus, the right plans, the right product and brand platforms, and the right team to turn our business condition around,” Lacy wrote.
A factor not mentioned by Lacy, is the bankruptcy of Sports Authority, a sporting goods retailer. Burton is owed $3.9 million.
Yobeat, a snowboarding industry magazine, first reported the news on Thursday.
