Vista Outdoor cuts jobs in bike division
News comes about two months after the corporation recommitted to its bike accessory and helmet brands.
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Vista Outdoor recently laid off 14 people at its Scotts Valley, California, facility, the headquarters for Bell, Giro, and Blackburn. The cuts—about 10 percent of the workforce at the facility—come even as the company reinvests in its bike division.
Layoffs touched people in all departments and levels, from engineering and design to testing and marketing, Outside Business Journal confirmed.
“I would describe it as rightsizing the business,” Rocky Krivijanski, VP of strategic communications for Vista Outdoor, told OBJ. “It’s about ensuring Bell/Giro’s cost structure aligns with its financial performance.”
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, Vista Outdoor reported an 11 percent sales drop across most of its major product categories, and also credited the decline to its July 2018 sale of eyewear brands Bollé, Cébé, and Serengeti.
Krivijanski said Vista expects to release first quarter earnings results on Aug. 8.
The shakeup follows Vista Outdoor’s divestiture from Savage Arms earlier this month, which was at the heart of the REI and MEC boycott of the company’s brands like CamelBak, Camp Chef, and others.
