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Insurance company Root cuts 20 percent of employees

Root

Insurance company Root cuts 20 percent of employees

Root has confirmed it will reduce its workforce again in the second round of layoffs this year.  

The Columbus-based auto insurance business strives for more profitability.

Almost 137 people lost their jobs this week.

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CEO Alex Timm said: "To further improve cash flow we are prioritizing resources that support Root’s go-forward strategy.

"As a result, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our headcount by roughly 20 percent."

"The most difficult part of this realignment is that we said goodbye to employees throughout the business," the insurer said in a statement. 

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Root slashed 330 jobs in January, affecting about 20 percent of its workforce.

It blamed the pandemic for rising prices that led to huge losses.

Root also stated that it is decreasing other expenses in addition to headcount.

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The firm stated in its report for the three months ending September 30 it had made spending cuts of $48 million a year.

More plans are in place to cut costs by another $50 million.

It also said that it has reduced marketing spending by $60 million compared to the same period in 2021.

Root launched in 2015 on the belief that machine learning and modern technologies could transform the outdated auto-insurance sector.

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Drivers install the Root app on their phones and drive as they normally would. 

The app monitors speed, rapid acceleration, hard stops, swerves, and whether or not drivers are playing with their phones while driving.

Various reports formerly put the company's valuation as high as $6 billion, but the insurer's shares have plummeted since going public two years ago.

Roots' layoffs are the latest in a spate of redundancies at Columbus-area tech firms like Olive, Lower, and Upstart.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

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