The day after Marietta-based MiMedX announced a huge wave of layoffs, a group of former executives lashed back at current management.
In a statement released through an attorney, former chief executive Parker “Pete” Petit argued that the massive cuts were foolish and pleaded with his former company to reverse course.
“Laying off so many members of the best-trained sales force in this healthcare sector makes little economic sense,” Petit said. “These layoffs are a needless waste of talent and a huge blow to morale. I strongly urge the Company to rethink these extreme measures.”
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The company, which sells injections used in orthopedics and wound coverings to treat burn victims, announced cuts of 240 workers – about half of them part of the sales staff.
The move was part of the once high-flying firm’s fight to right itself.
In June, the company announced it had to revise more than five years' worth of financial statements, revisions that have not yet been made.
Petit resigned in July, a departure that the company retroactively designated as a termination “for cause.” Several other top executives likewise left and were similarly designated by the company.
That termination deprived the executives of significant post-employment benefits.
Attorney Bill Weinreb of the law firm, Quinn Emanuel, said he represents the executives. He criticized this week’s actions by the current board as a betrayal of the work done by Petit and Bill Taylor, former president and chief operating officer.
“These extreme measures illustrate how (they) have mismanaged a company that … Petit and … Taylor built into the 5th fastest growing public company in the U.S.”
