Carson City, Nevada-based Redwood Materials, a recycler of lithium-ion batteries to produce battery materials for electromobility and electrical storage systems, has announced a restructuring to focus on its energy storage business and a cost-cutting reduction in force.
The reduction has affected 10% of the company's workforce, approximately 135 employees. Five months after a 5% cut in its workforce.
According to Founder and CEO J.B. Straubel, who co-founded Tesla and served as its CTO until 2019 as the second-in-command to Elon Musk, “Redwood today is the strongest it’s ever been. The materials business is well on its way to profitability and has an exciting roadmap ahead. Parts of the company have expanded faster than needed to support the direction. We are confident that we can deliver on our critical projects with a smaller team that is more focused. We have successfully adapted to changes in the market that have bankrupted many of our competitors.”
"I am more excited than ever with our path ahead as we build the most integrated and cost-effective critical materials and energy storage business in the world. This is a self-sustaining business and will continue to make this company more valuable over time. We have the team and the technology to do what no other company can. I am grateful to the approximately 135 employees who we say goodbye to today — they’ve all contributed to building Redwood.”
Change is constant, and it's coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, nor promises of a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something terrible hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, at any time, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. While many employees can read the writing on the wall, why do most assume it’s targeted at someone else? Are you now wondering, Am I Next?