Founded in 2010, Magic Leap periodically appears in the news in the context of interest in its developments from major players in the wearable electronics market, but its own augmented reality glasses are still quite expensive and are not widely used. In addition, the company was recently forced to lay off 75 employees.
Image source: Magic Leap
This was reported by Bloomberg, and later representatives of Magic Leap confirmed the information about the cuts. As noted, there were widespread cuts in the sales and marketing department. Without going into detail about the structure of the cuts, Magic Leap representatives explained that the company is now “adjusting its strategy in accordance with market dynamics and emerging opportunities.” The company’s personnel structure is now optimized around technology and software development specialists. It promises to actively support Magic Leap’s customers and developers who collaborate with it within the proprietary ecosystem.
Released in 2018, Magic Leap augmented reality glasses were not a significant market success. Having abandoned its ambitions to conquer the retail market, the company subsequently tried to focus on the commercial segment. It is expected that as a result of recent cuts, the company will focus primarily on licensing its developments. The main know-how of Magic Leap is its special optics, which allows you to effectively combine virtual images with a picture of the real world.
At the end of May, Magic Leap announced a partnership with Google, which previously invested in this startup. Last year, there were rumors about Magic Leap negotiating with Meta✴ Platforms. In 2020, the first of the companies had to lay off 1,000 employees, and it is difficult to say how large its staff is after the recent layoffs. Magic Leap employees who lost their jobs this year received severance pay equal to two months’ salary and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.