Blue Apron (APRN) Shares Dip On Job Cuts, 'Company-Wide Realignment'

On Thursday, shares of meal-kit company Blue Apron (NYSE:APRN) are falling after the company announced it would be laying off 6% of its employees, or about 300 people. The stock is down about 1.3% to $5.24 per share in morning trading.

CEO Matt Salzberg described the decision as a “company-wide realignment” in an email to employees. According to CNBC, the layoffs affected salaried employees the most, and the company let go of a slew of workers within its marketing, software development, operations, and business development divisions at its New York headquarters.

“Our leadership and Board did not take this decision lightly, and I want to assure you that we believe it was necessary as we focus the company on future growth and achieving profitability,” wrote Salzberg.

“We have accomplished so much together over the past five years, and no words can adequately describe my appreciation for the work you do each day. I’m confident that the changes we made today will make our organization stronger and help us continue to improve the lives of our customers across the country,” he continued.

While job cuts are never the best news for a young company, it’s not entirely surprising for Blue Apron. The company has had a tough time ever since its IPO this past June--shares of APRN are down over 47%--an IPO that was completely overshadowed by Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) decision to purchase Whole Foods. That acquisition announcement caused even more intense investor caution and scrutiny, and Blue Apron ended up slashing its intended price range.

Even though Blue Apron is still the biggest and most well-known meal-kit company out there, the competition is more aggressive than ever. From Amazon and Kroger (NYSE:KR) jumping into the meal-kit and meal-prep game to rival HelloFresh planning to go public, it’s more important than ever that Blue Apron show investors and analysts that it can both retain customers and expand its base.

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