Evernote has axed most of its workforce, Engadget reported. In a statement shared with SFGate, Bending Spoons, the Milan-based app developer that bought the company last November said Friday it had laid off nearly all of Evernote’s employees in the US and Chile.
According to Engadget, Bending Spoons plans to move most of the company’s remaining operations to Europe. The layoffs come less than six months after the firm cut 129 positions at Evernote because the app had been “unprofitable for years.” Bending Spoons didn’t share exactly how many employees were affected by this round of layoffs. A scan of LinkedIn reveals some software engineers that had been with Evernote for a few years lost their jobs on Friday.
Evernote posted “Moving the Evernote center of operations to Europe” on its Evernote News blog.
“On June 23, we announced to Evernote employees that most of our operations will be transitioned to Europe, the home of our parent company, Bending Spoons. We’re taking this step to boost operational efficiency and to make the most of the Bending Spoons employer brand, which is extremely strong in Europe.
Unfortunately, this transition required that most of our Chile- and US-based employees be laid offend on July 5 the layoff communication took place. We’re committed to supporting those impacted with a substantial separation package. In most cases, this package includes 16 weeks of salary, up to one year of health insurance coverage, and a performance bonus, paid pro-rata as if the year-end performance targets had already been achieved. We’re also offering additional support to those in need, such as impacted individuals who are on a visa.
Our plans for Evernote are as ambitious as ever: Going forward, a dedicated (and growing) team based in Europe will continue to assume ownership of the Evernote product. This team will be in an ideal position to leverage the extensive expertise and strength of the 400-plus workforce at Bending Spoons, many of whom have been working on Evernote full-time since the acquisition.
We’re extremely thankful for the efforts and commitment of all our departing colleagues, and we wish them the very best for the future.
Francesco Patarnello, CEO”
ArsTechnica reported that many people today, especially younger people, may have never heard of Evernote, which is part of the problem. Evernote’s core pitch – an easily accessed, tag-friendly, searchable notebook that syncs everywhere – was novel and ambitious when it publicly debuted in 2004.
According to ArsTechnica, Founder Stephan Pachikov, who had been developing the project since 2000, had also worked handwriting recognition for both Microsoft and Apple; a the time, an app that could keep everything paired up between a Pocket PC and a Windows XP computer, without any cable fuss, was novel!
I vaguely remember using Evernote back in the day, but had completely forgotten about it since then. Some people will experience nostalgia for the app, now that it is leaving the US and Chile. The only good thing about this situation is that Evernote is giving plenty of benefits to the employees who are being laid off. Very few companies will go that far!
The new school year is just a few weeks away, so it is no surprise that the back-to-school sales and deals are starting to appear. 
