SunPower to cut nearly 25% of workforce, including direct residential sales

SunPower principal govt officer Tom Werner right this moment launched a letter to employees that asserts layoffs and division closures.

To realize monetary viability, SunPower will transfer to a low fixed-cost mannequin that ought to higher react to market fluctuations. The corporation will wind down its SunPower Residential Set up (SPRI) areas and shut SunPower Direct gross sales. SunPower will scale back its workforce by roughly 1,000 folks within the subsequent few weeks — doubtless near 20-25% of SunPower’s workers.

The corporation reported having 4,710 full-time workers as of Jan. 1, 2023, whereas Reuters is reporting the corporation had 3,800 workers just lately. These impacted by the job eliminations ought to have been contacted right this moment.

“After a brief transition interval, all pipeline operations from pre-installation by system activation can be dealt with by Blue Raven Photo voltaic, full-service setup companions and our trusted community of SunPower-certified sellers — all who meet our requirements of integrity, design, high quality, and customer support,” Werner said. “As we make this transition over the subsequent month, we’re devoted to dealing with our buyer expertise with the very best ranges of care and with minimal impression on timelines.”

SunPower will focus its efforts now on its Seller Community and set up companions. The corporation can also be planning to proceed with its work with new home-build buildings.

SunPower has been on a bumpy street since diversifying its enterprise at the beginning of this decade. The corporation offered its large-scale O&M portfolio to NovaSource in Could 2020, spun off its photo voltaic panel manufacturing arm to Maxeon in August 2020, acquired Blue Raven Photo voltaic in October 2021 to refocus its residential efforts, offered its business set up division to TotalEnergies in February 2022 and simply misplaced its unique photo voltaic panel provide settlement with Maxeon final month.

The corporation revealed this week that it had recognized misstatements in its outcomes for the fiscal 12 months of 2022 and expects a $15 million to $25 million lower in revenue from persevering with operations earlier than revenue taxes and different changes for the 12 months that ended Jan. 1, 2023. Among the many purposes for the misstatements is the wrongly labeled gross sales commissions as the price of income.