Lexmark International layoffs will impact 700 employees or 7 percent of the company's employees over the next year, the printer maker confirmed today.
The Lexmark layoffs, reported first by Lexington Herald-Leader, signal continued challenges for the printer company. An investment consortium, led by Apex Technology Co. and PAG Asia Capital, acquired the company in November 2016. From there, the software business (rebranded as Kofax) was sold to Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm.
Executive changes also have been the norm. David Reeder succeeded long-time CEO and Chairman Paul Rooke in November 2016, but then Reeder resigned for personal reasons in June 2017.
A search for a successor continues. In the interim, Lexmark is led by a management team consisting of Brock Saladin, senior VP and CFO, and Allen Waugerman, senior VP and CTO. Also, the company in July hired Ying (Vivian) Liu as senior VP and CFO.Liu joined the company from Huawei Technology Inc.
Lexmark R&D and Rivalries
Despite the management and ownership changes, Lexmark apparently has maintained its R&D focus. The company in July delivered Markvision Enterprise (MVE) 3.0, a fleet management software upgrade that gives partners and customers "better visibility into their entire fleet of network printers and multifunction devices, regardless of manufacturer," Lexmark asserts. The company has also won various third-party honors for its document imaging security technology.
Still, competition has been intensifying. HP Inc. in September 2016 announced a $1.05 billion deal to acquire Samsung's printer business. When the deal was unveiled, HP specifically pointed to Samsung’s A3 MFPs, stating that the mobile-first and cloud-first user experience will integrate with the PC maker’s PageWide technologies. Moreover, the company is well-positioned to define the 3D printer market while disrupting the copier market, HP CEO Dion Weisler predicted at the time.
Also, Xerox recently launched a managed print accreditation to drive more partners toward recurring revenues. That's a common theme for most printer makers these days.
