News / Some job cuts, but our presence in Europe is essential, says FourKites

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Supply chain visibility platform FourKites has denied it is closing its European offices.

The US company admits it is cutting 15% of its workforce, thought to be some 90 jobs, and rumours in Europe suggested it was also closing its Amsterdam office.

But FourKites issued a statement to The Loadstar confirming that was not the case.

“We have not shut down our European office, and we continue to have a team in Europe that is committed to the continued success of new and existing European customers,” it said.

“As a company that supports multinational customers, we have the support and resources to ensure success for any of our customers who want to expand to additional geographic regions.”

A spokesperson added: “We cannot provide any regional details [of job losses], just that we reduced total headcount by approximately 15%.”

Last month, FourKites announced a series of management changes, which saw Sean Fallon, president until July 2022, return as chief strategy officer. The firm said he had “extensive experience in private equity and venture-backed companies … [and] has led businesses through strategic liquidity events and M&A”.

It is not clear what fate awaits former chief strategy officer Fabrizio Brasca.

FourKites also appointed Mike DeAngelis – formerly senior director of growth, ocean, for rival Project44, as well as having been at Maersk and WiseTech Global – as its head of ocean. And expanded the scope of chief product officer Priya Rajagopalan’s role to encompass customer operations, product and R&D.

Meanwhile, many companies are struggling, with consequent job losses. FourKites rival Project44 fired 116 people this year and CEO Jett McCandless wrote in Freightwaves at the time that, being in the “trough” of the cyclical market meant “companies have deprioritised some of their supply chain projects, resulting in longer sales cycles for project44 and the market as whole”.

He also blamed lower shipping rates, inflated labour costs and higher interest rates, and said a change on focus, “leading to profitability”, would mean the company would be “more conservative in how we spend our capital”.

Mr McCandless added: “The current market conditions will knock out some of the competitors in this business cycle.”