Native Instruments lays off around 100 staff amid “global restructuring”

Native Instruments has confirmed it has laid off a significant number of its staff as it works towards launching “a unified platform experience for the modern music producer” in 2020.

Reports state around 100 employees, or 20 per cent of the tech company’s global workforce, have been made redundant, with the majority of those affected having been stationed in NI’s Berlin headquarters and working in the Sales & Distribution, Marketing & Product Management, Administration and Engineering departments. All employees were made aware of the changes last Thursday, August 29.

Native Instruments says the restructuring is not financially motivated, with revenues having grown in 2018 and the first half of 2019, but marks a change in strategy to centralise operations and focus on developing “a new, unified and fully integrated platform on which the company’s entire portfolio of products and services will be available next year.”

Daniel Haver, Native Instrument’s CEO and co-founder, said in a statement: “To make this transformation successful, we needed to adapt our strategy, including a centralized functional setup that can support our vision of ‘One Native’. Unfortunately, this also means we had to make some tough decisions and part ways with a number of employees. This has been the hardest part of this transformation.”

Mate Galic, Native Instruments’ Chief Innovation Officers and President, said the aim of the new platform is to ensure “all parts of the company work together towards one common goal” and move away from the company’s previous divisional setup and multi-brand approach.

He added: “Customers today are expecting a seamlessly integrated experience when consuming and accessing creative goods and services. We are confident that we can offer music producers worldwide a unique and premium experience by connecting our existing ecosystem of award-winning software and hardware to a centralized online service.”

Alongside severance packages and outplacement service, NI has said it will aid ex-employees in seeking jobs at other Berlin-based tech companies.

Behringer has already registered interest in NI’s former personnel, writing on Facebook: “It has come to our attention that a well-known DJ manufacturer in Germany has been laying off 200+ engineers.

“We can help as we’re looking for 50 digital hardware, DSP and embedded software engineers for our Innovation centers in Willich, Germany, Manchester, UK and Aarhus, Denmark.

“We welcome everyone to apply and send their resume to [email protected]. If you know anyone from this company please share this post with them. Of course we welcome anyone else who is not affiliated with this particular company.”

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Features Editor, follow him on Twitter

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