Feb 2, 2023
Okta to Cut 300 Jobs Citing Overhiring, ‘Execution Challenges’
Bloomberg News
,![The Okta Inc. website on a smartphone arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S., on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. Okta Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on March 3. Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg, Bloomberg The Okta Inc. website on a smartphone arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S., on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021. Okta Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on March 3. Photographer: Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg](/polopoly_fs/1.1878475.1675349723!/fileimage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_620/the-okta-inc-website-on-a-smartphone-arranged-in-dobbs-ferry-new-york-u-s-on-sunday-feb-28-2021-okta-inc-is-scheduled-to-release-earnings-figures-on-march-3-photographer-tiffany-hagler-geard-bloomberg.jpg)
(Bloomberg) -- Okta Inc., a software maker known for identity verification and login services, is cutting about 300 employees, the latest technology company to cut costs by shedding employees. The shares jumped 6.5% in premarket trading.
The cuts — about 5% of the workforce — are due to overhiring and “execution challenges,” wrote Chief Executive Officer Todd McKinnon in a letter to employees Thursday. The company will focus on reducing spending and improving profitability moving forward, McKinnon said. Okta will incur about $15 million in restructuring costs, it said in a filing.
San Francisco-based Okta’s headcount has roughly tripled since July 2020, to about 6,000 workers. Company shares have dropped 66% since the start of 2022 as investors became increasingly critical of high-growth, low-profit companies. Okta is the latest technology firm to execute a headcount reduction, following firms like Workday Inc., Splunk Inc. and Pinterest Inc. earlier in the week.
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