Thoma Bravo to cut up to 16 per cent of Sophos' workforce

Private equity firm completed its acquisition of the UK-based vendor in March

Thoma Bravo plans to cut up to 16 per cent of Sophos workforce, according to reports.

The private equity giant completed its acquisition of the UK-based cybersecurity firm in early March, and has now moved quickly to cut costs.

It confirmed the potential redundancies to Private Equity News, citing the coronavirus pandemic as the main reason.

The private equity firm also said that it could shut some Sophos facilities, but said this would not include offices in the UK.

Meanwhile Sophos has itself said that the cuts are "necessary".

"A restructuring is always a difficult decision, but we believe it is necessary to position Sophos for continued growth and success in the years to come," it said.

"Sophos is implementing some internal restructuring to respond to the change in market conditions associated with COVID-19, and to accelerate the evolution already underway to our next-gen product portfolio."

The vendor's headcount was set at 4,300 in its financial report for the year ending 31 March 2019.

Sophos also highlighted that it's billings grew 14 per cent year on year in the quarter ending 31 March 2020, with its next-gen portfolio growing 37 per cent and representing 63 per cent of the overall total.