LEICA Barnack Berek Blog: LEICA ANNOUNCED LAYOFFS OF UP TO 100 POSITIONS

In a recent company meeting, Leica has announced job cuts. Apparently, up to 100 of the approximately 800 jobs at the headquarters in Wetzlar are to be canceled. This despite the fact that Leica successfully closed the last fiscal year at the end of March with a profit of 40 million euros.

Detailed information has not been released at this point, but there are many indications that Leica Camera AG is planning a further restructuring in the direction of digitization - from a mechanics and optics company to also a software and app developer. Some advertised job openings at Leica clearly appear to indicate this to be the case. Sophisticated digital features are what customers expect in a Leica camera today. The global camera market has been struggling for years against double-digit declines. Leica has been able to hold its own against this trend so far and it appears to be the hope that an expansion into the development of sophisticated digitization will allow the company to remain competitive by developing new features for their range of cameras.

As of late, additional business ventures have added considerable income to Leica’s camera and lens sales. For example, Huawei premium mobile phones are equipped with Leica optics. Together, the two companies are driving forward research and development. To some degree the fate of Leica Camera AG depends on the future of Huawei.

For ten years, Leica has known only one direction: upwards. They made a very impressive turnaround after being practically insolvent in the early 2000s. Sales quadrupled within a decade. Bucking the trend of declining sales in the camera industry, the fiscal year ending in March 2018 was the most successful year in company history with 420 million euros. Thus the announcement of layoffs is being met with concern. But all indications are that Leica is aggressively addressing the problems they are facing.