More vendor staff face the axe as F5 chops headcount by 9 per cent

The cuts affect 623 employees, and come amid an economic environment that has "dramatically affected" customer spending patterns, F5 CEO François Locoh-Donou said in a message to staff

F5 told employees it has cut nine per cent of its workforce, affecting 623 employees, according to a memo to staff.

The Seattle-HQ company, which specialises in security for multi-cloud environments along with technology for enabling application delivery, joins numerous other tech industry vendors in turning to layoffs amid the challenging economic environment.

"As we look at the past six months, it's clear that rising interest rates, geopolitical events, and macroeconomic uncertainty have dramatically affected our customers' spending patterns," F5 CEO François Locoh-Donou said in the message to staff, which was posted on the company's website Wednesday.

In response to the uncertainty, "we must take measures to decrease our costs without jeopardising our future growth trajectory," Locoh-Donou wrote.

Other cutbacks at the company will include elimination of the CEO bonus for F5's fiscal 2023, a 70 per cent reduction in bonuses for executive vice presidents during the fiscal year and a reduction in employee bonuses.

Additionally, F5 plans to undertake an office consolidation "later this year" and shift internal company events to virtual, while also further cutting back on expense and travel budgets, Locoh-Donou wrote.

"It is understandable to wonder if these actions could have been avoided," he wrote. "These are extraordinary measures being taken under extraordinary circumstances."

Also on Wednesday, F5 reported that revenue for its fiscal second quarter, ended March 31, rose 11 per cent year on year to $703m.

F5's stock price was down 2.1 per cent, to $134.09 a share, as of mid-day Thursday.

These latest vendor cuts immediately follow the CDW layoffs announced at the end of last week.