British electric vehicle (EV) start-up Arrival has made the difficult decision to lay off half of its workforce, aiming to reduce cash operating expenses and secure the company’s future. The company will be cutting approximately 800 jobs, but at the same time, they will be welcoming a new CEO to their team.
Igor Torgov has been named as Arrival’s new CEO, starting in his new role after serving as the company’s EVP of Digital since February 2020. With his extensive experience in the field, Torgov is poised to lead the company forward as they navigate these challenging times.
“Following a detailed review of its operations and its markets, Arrival is now announcing immediate actions to further reduce its operating costs and to optimize the deployment of its current cash resources. This includes the difficult decision to reduce its global workforce by approximately 50% to 800 employees. When combined with other cost reductions in real estate and third-party spending, the company expects to halve the ongoing cash cost of operating the business to approximately $30 million per quarter,” the company said in a press release.
In an effort to cut expenses by 30% and reach its 2023 targets, Arrival reduced its workforce by 30% last year, laying off 800 of its 2,500 employees. However, even this was not enough to ensure the company’s stability, as Arrival warned in November 2022 that it may not have enough cash to continue operations through 2023.
The company’s stock has struggled, losing 80% in value in 2022 and still yet to turn a profit. At the end of 2022, Arrival had $205 million in cash on hand. The company’s primary focus was to manufacture electric delivery vans using smaller, more cost-effective hubs.
