Post-Proxy Turmoil: Masimo Engineers Grapple with Layoffs and Low MoralePost-Proxy Turmoil: Masimo Engineers Grapple with Layoffs and Low Morale

Masimo will begin 2025 with sweeping changes, including the layoff of at least 75 employees on January 13, marking a shift in focus after its high-profile proxy battle. Following a contentious proxy battle and leadership changes, Masimo is recalibrating its strategy—one that involves difficult decisions, including workforce reductions and a narrowed product focus.

The recent turbulence has left a workforce grappling with uncertainty and low morale.

“The general mood of the remaining workforce is lethargic at best, especially in engineering teams,” said a Masimo engineer who asked to remain anonymous. “...I suspect a second round of layoffs is coming before the end of the year.”

The company’s management team presented a united front during last month’s earnings call and did signal a shift in priorities following the shareholder vote in September that ousted founder and former CEO Joe Kiani from the board.

"Our focus is on positioning Masimo to achieve its significant long-term growth potential. We are allocating resources to fewer projects, concentrating on sizable market opportunities that address clear unmet needs, and ensuring we can continue to invest heavily in innovation,” a company spokesperson told me. “Unfortunately, this has also meant shifting and reducing headcount in certain areas to better position the company to meet our goals and be able to bring lasting benefits to the patients we serve."

Among the products that the company has “deemphasized” is the Opioid Halo, a wearable designed to monitor patients on opioids at home, as well as Bridge, a therapeutic device designed to make it less painful for patients to come off opioids. Masimo will also be discontinuing feasibility studies on non-invasive monitoring of cancer, bilirubin, and diabetes.

Layoffs are never easy on a company's workforce, but it can be a necessary evil. For Masimo engineers, this turbulence—however necessary—hits especially hard after many got caught up in the middle of the ugly proxy fight between Kiani and Politan Capital Management.