Workers at NXP celebrate the close of the merger.
Buried inside a press release about chipmaker NXP Semiconductor's fourth-quarter earnings, released Thursday morning, was a hint about ongoing layoffs related to their $11.8 billion purchase of Austin-based Freescale Semiconductor. The transaction closed late last year.
There was an expectation of layoffs as part of this buyout, and back in April 2015 the American-Statesman noted there was even a possibility of layoffs in advance of the deal closing. But it was never clear what positions or divisions will be targeted, and how big of a hit Austin workers should expect. NXP said Thursday that it had about 5,000 employees in Austin, which is the same figure Freescale used to describe its Austin presence. (Globally Freescale employed 17,000. The combined company employs about 45,000 worldwide.)
Here's precisely what the NXP release said:
"As a result of the FSL Merger, NXP recognized a restructuring charge of $239 million. The charge is comprised of employee related severance accruals and contract termination costs. In addition, NXP recognized $49 million of stock-based compensation charges related to employees terminated as a result of the FSL Merger."
I reached out to NXP this morning to find out what this means for NXP’s Austin workforce and here’s what they had to say about it:
"As previously disclosed, there will be some redundancies in the support functions," wrote Global PR Director Joon Knapen. "We are working on informing the specific people impacted in the various geographies. But we will refrain from giving any further detail at this moment in time, as we are working through the process."
While not revealing much, the statement says layoffs are happening. It's just not clear if they are in Austin. And an anonymous poster on a job layoff forum wrote three days ago that he works at NXP's William Cannon location in Austin and that "layoffs are happening right now."
If you have more information or tips on NXP layoffs, email Tech Reporter Lilly Rockwell at lrockwell@statesman.com.
