Eden Prairie's C.H. Robinson lays off 650 workers - Star Tribune

Freight and cargo logistics elephantine C.H. Robinson laid disconnected 650 workers this week, the latest leader to bash truthful successful effect to a slowing economy.

Officials astatine the Eden Prairie-based institution confirmed the layoffs Friday. They were archetypal reported by commercialized work Freight Waves.

CEO Bob Biesterfeld discussed sagging third-quarter results and weakening freight request successful retail, lodging and different markets successful an net telephone past week with Wall Street analysts. He said the institution would beryllium taking "actions to structurally trim our wide outgo structure."

In effect to a question astir wherefore the institution added 100 jobs arsenic precocious arsenic the 2nd quarter, Biesterfeld said: "Admittedly, we apt [got] up of ourselves successful presumption of caput number [for the planetary forwarding division]. We surely did not expect that the marketplace was going to travel down arsenic rapidly arsenic it did."

With precocious inflation, rising involvement rates connected loans and consumers curtailing spending, Biesterfeld and different officials astatine the third-party logistics supplier predicted successful July that they would spot slower request and expected it to proceed done the remainder of this year.

"We're present seeing those expectations play out, with slowing freight request and terms declines successful the freight forwarding and aboveground proscription markets," Biesterfeld told analysts during the call.

The cuts this week impact 3.6% of the 17,945employees C.H. Robinson reported it had earlier this month. The institution has conscionable nether 2,600 employees successful Minnesota.

Regarding the layoffs, "These are not casual decisions, due to the fact that we admit the important publication of the impacted employees," institution spokesperson Duncan Burns said successful a connection connected Friday. "We person tried to attack this with arsenic overmuch respect and empathy for our erstwhile colleagues arsenic imaginable and are providing modulation assistance."

C.H. Robinson's unit reductions are not isolated. In caller days, exertion giants specified arsenic Facebook's Meta, Google and Twitter, and section firms specified arsenic Code42, Bright Health Group and Fresh Vine Wine besides announced layoffs.

C.H. Robinson, which arranges freight, cargo and logistics assistance to firms worldwide, generated astir $23 cardinal successful gross past year. Last week, the institution said third-quarter gross fell 4% year-over-year to $6 cardinal and nett income fell 8.6% to $226 million.

The company's banal connected Friday roseate astir 5% to adjacent astatine $98.26 a share.