Exterro, a Beaverton-based legal technology company, announced Monday that it has laid off less than 3% of its workforce since acquiring a Portland competitor, Zapproved, earlier this month. According to Exterro, the majority of the nearly two dozen layoffs are in the Portland area.
“It is common for synergies to be discovered and roles to be eliminated as part of an acquisition,” Exterro Chief Marketing Officer Bill Piwonka wrote in an email to The Oregonian/OregonLive. He said the combined company is trying to be thoughtful about its new product structure and to position itself for success.
Exterro initially stated that it intended to keep all 131 Zapproved employees when it announced the transaction 10 days ago. The combined company would have had a workforce of around 750 people.
According to Exterro, the cuts on Monday primarily impacted Zapproved employees. Zapproved employees reported job losses in their engineering and product organizations on social media. ‘
Exterro and Zapproved both create software to assist businesses in managing their legal matters. Zapproved’s technology-assisted businesses in tracking electronic information relevant to lawsuits and other legal issues, whereas Exterro provided additional services to assist businesses in complying with regulations, managing their online data, and preserving electronic privacy.
However, there was some overlap between the two product lines, and the companies had been competitors on occasion for many years.
Exterro’s layoffs are the latest in a string of layoffs at Oregon businesses and major regional employers this month.
Since the summer, Oregon’s unemployment rate has risen by a full percentage point to 4.5%. However, until recently, the majority of that increase was due to people entering the labor force to look for work and people quitting their jobs without another lined up. The recent round of layoffs may be changing that picture.
