They have already been layoffs but they haven't officially called them layoffs. If you look deeply enough anyone who's been with essendant more than 7 to 10 years is no longer with the company basically.
They've been offered packages secretly and have found other positions elsewhere. If essendant announces they're having layoffs it will send a message to the marketplace / Wall Street insinuating the notion of essendant having additional bad Financial Health which is preposterous because the balance sheet already shows the financial struggles essendant is going through. I'm not a financial analyst but I can say this.. essendant biggest struggles are
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Misguided leadership
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Merchandising
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Uncommitted customer base
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Reaction time to market trends
Being one of the largest players in a dying industry. Essendant has no more room to grow in the office supply industry which was foundation it was based on...so now it's time to contract/step aside and let Amazon and independent reseller buy directly from the manufacturers...