An AI Supplier Now Announces Unexpected Job Cuts

March 19, 2024

An AI supplier now announces unexpected job cuts of its corporate staff members as it winds down its tablet business.

Presto has laid off 18% of its workforce, or 24 corporate staff members, the company said in an SEC filing Monday.

The company said the reductions, which will be largely completed by the end of fiscal Q4 2024, will save $3.1 million annually.

In September, Presto laid off 17% of its workforce, or about two dozen employees.

At the time, the company employed 137 full-time workers.

In addition to its layoff notice, Presto said it sold 4.8 million shares, raising $1.2 million.

Along with other cash resources and projected revenue, the company said it has sufficient funding to operate through April 1.

It is also “exploring alternatives” and talking with other potential investors to raise capital.

Presto is now focusing on Presto Voice instead of its tablet business, which it would either sell, partially sell or abandon, reports Restaurant Dive.

The company’s Presto Voice clients currently include Checkers, Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s and Wienerschnitzel.

Its previous client, Del Taco, which anticipated bringing drive-thru AI to its system, decided not to continue with Presto Voice as of last year, the company said in an SEC filing.

Presto’s decision to focus on its drive-thru AI product coincided with the departure of its biggest Touch clients: Applebee’s, Red Lobster and Chili’s.

These three clients made up 88% of the company’s Touch revenue in the second half of 2023.

When Presto began focusing on its Voice business, its Touch business became less of a priority, even though Touch generated about 90% of the company’s 2023 revenue.

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Also Read: A Crafts Retailer Now Declares An Official Bankruptcy

Other Economy News Today

A massive grocery store is now closing in two more states after shuttering several other locations nationwide, sources confirm.

Walmart is reportedly set to shut down three more stores across California and Maryland.

The retailer has already shut down one location in Ohio and two in San Diego, California in 2024.

Another reported two in California and Ohio would bring the total to six stores shut so far this year, according to Business Insider.

The closures come after budget chain Dollar Tree announced it was set to shutter a whopping 1,000 stores after posting a quarterly loss on Wednesday.

The budget retailer was forced to pay a charge of over $1 billion as a result of the closure plans in the form of a goodwill impairment charge, reports The-Sun.

Dollar Tree announced in November that the retailer would be assessing the business and this may include the closures of failing stores to improve growth.

The company was charged $594.4 million for a portfolio optimization review followed by another $950 million charge for an asset impairment charge, and a $1.07 billion goodwill impairment charge.

The results of the company’s portfolio optimization review identified around 600 Family Dollar stores for closure in the first half of fiscal 2024 and an additional 370 stores as their leases expire.

Walmart lost a total of 102 stores between January and August last year, according to its investor website.

“22 supercenters, stores, and neighborhood markets” closed last year due to their poor financial performance, a spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, 79 small-formate stores were lost not “due to closure per se, but the sale of the Moosejaw and Bonobos brands,” Walmart added.

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Also Read: Beloved Retailer With 850 Stores Will Now File Bankruptcy

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