Email Security & Protection
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Email Threat Protection
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Fraud Management & Cybercrime
Private Equity-Owned Firm Lets 280 People Go, Moves Jobs to Argentina and Ireland
Silicon Valley email security firm Proofpoint is laying off 280 positions two months into the tenure of Sumit Dhawan as its chief executive officer.
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The layoffs amount to roughly 6% of the company’s workforce of 4,500. A company spokesperson said Proofpoint anticipates moving half the eliminated positions to overseas units in Argentina and Ireland by midyear.
The layoffs are “deeply rooted in our forward-looking company strategy,” the spokesperson said, adding that shedding jobs should result in fewer management layers. “Coupled with continued hiring aligned with our key priorities, we expect to end 2024 with a similar headcount to where we started the year.”
Private equity firm Thoma Bravo acquired the then-publicly traded company in 2021 in a $12.3 billion cash transaction. It has churned through four permanent or interim leaders since then, landing on former VMware top executive Dhawan in November as its new CEO (see: Proofpoint Snags Former VMware President Sumit Dhawan as CEO).
The company’s Thomas Bravo era involved numerous acquisitions, including Boston-based cloud email security provider Tessian in October and New York-based deception firm Illusive in December 2022. Only months after falling under the Thoma Bravo umbrella, Proofpoint bought New York-based artificial intelligence-based data classification firm Dathena.
The Wednesday layoffs are the largest on an absolute basis from a pure-play cybersecurity company since August, when Rapid7 laid off 470 employees and Secureworks cut 322 workers.