Electronics manufacturer Jabil will lay off 120 in Vancouver
Published 2:32 pm Monday, March 4, 2024
Electronics manufacturer Jabil plans to close its Vancouver site and lay off 120 employees in May.
The Florida company notified Washington officials of the pending layoffs Friday. Neither the state nor Jabil immediately responded to questions about the closure.
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Last summer, Jabil announced plans to sell its mobile electronics manufacturing segment to a Chinese company called BYD Electronics for $2.2 billion. Jabil subsequently reported it would spend $300 million in restructuring the business, including an unspecified number of “headcount reductions.”
Jabil has a low profile in Vancouver, where it has operated in the Fisher’s Landing area along SE 34th Street. In a letter to the city about the layoffs Monday, the company said it first notified workers of the pending closure in December before sending them a written notice this month.
Clark County had an unemployment rate of 4.8% in December, according to the most recent Washington state data. That compares to a statewide jobless rate of 4.2%, and a national rate of 3.7%.
JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines are ending their proposed $3.8 billion merger weeks after a federal judge blocked the deal, saying it would hurt consumers who depend on Spirit’s lower fares.
JetBlue said Monday that even though both companies still believe in the deal, they were unlikely to meet the closing conditions required in the agreement before a July 24 deadline.
JetBlue’s new CEO, Joanna Geraghty, called the merger “a bold and courageous plan intended to shake up the industry status quo” and speed JetBlue’s growth.
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“However, with the ruling from the federal court and the Department of Justice’s continued opposition, the probability of getting the green light to move forward with the merger anytime soon is extremely low,” Geraghty said in a memo to employees of New York airline.
JetBlue will pay Spirit a $69 million termination fee.
Prominent Oregon startup Agility Robotics named a new CEO on Monday, hiring former Microsoft Vice President Peggy Johnson to run the business. Johnson was most recently CEO of the high-profile augmented reality startup Magic Leap before leaving that position in October.
Agility Robotics makes a robot that walks upright to work in factories and warehouses. The Corvallis-based company has raised more than $180 million from investors and potential partners including Amazon, which is exploring ways to expand the use of robotics in its warehouses.
Agility Robotics has about 250 employees, about half of them in Corvallis.
It is preparing to open a factory in Salem to manufacture its robots.