Malwarebytes lays off 100 employees ahead of company split

Cybersecurity giant Malwarebytes laid off 100 employees this week as it prepares for a major restructuring that will see the company split in two, TechCrunch has learned.

These layoffs come almost exactly one year after Malwarebytes eliminated 14% of its global workforce.

A former employee who asked to remain anonymous told TechCrunch the layoffs come just weeks after the company’s chief product officer, chief information officer and chief technology officer were fired.

An archived version of Malwarebytes’ leadership page shows that these positions no longer exist at the company. Multiple LinkedIn posts showed a number of additional employees were laid off this week. A former Malwarebytes employee described the layoffs as “an unfortunate annual tradition.”

Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski confirmed to TechCrunch that around 100 to 110 employees were laid off this week, with the layoffs mostly affecting enterprise employees. Kleczynski also confirmed that the company had made management changes as part of the “strategic reorganization”.

Kleczynski said the layoffs were part of a plan to split the company into two separate business units, but denied plans to sell any part of the business.

The split – which has not been made public before – will see Malwarebytes separate its consumer and enterprise business units. The consumer business will focus on tools such as identity protection and VPN, while the rest of the business will focus on enterprise software such as managed detection and endpoints, said Kleczynski at TechCrunch.

Full details of the split have yet to be finalized but will be announced in the coming weeks.

Kleczynski told TechCrunch that the latest layoffs, which affected Malwarebytes employees around the world, were an exercise in cost-cutting. Kleczynski said Malwarebytes continues to be “healthy and profitable.”

“A profitable business is a viable business. ” Kleczynski said.

Malwarebytes isn’t the only cybersecurity company to make layoffs in recent months. Earlier this month, SecureWorks announced plans to lay off 15% of its workforce to drive “profitable growth,” and Rapid7 also confirmed it was laying off 18% of its global workforce, affecting more than 400 employees.