Despite reported layoffs, Tessco Technologies leases more space in Timonium
Several sources have reached out to me to say that the number of layoffs this month at Tessco Technologies Inc. ranged anywhere from 30 to 60.
(That's Tessco's CEO, Robert B. Barnhill Jr., in a Sun photo at a Maryland Shock Trauma gala in 2002 -- the only picture we have of him in our photo archives.)
I don't have a more solid number to report to you, since the company hasn't responded to my inquiries. We do know that a Facebook page was created to organize a happy hour for the laid off employees, but that page is now private.
But here's another news nugget: Today, an SEC filing from the company was filed which showed that Tessco extended its building lease in Timonium by more than 3,800 square feet, for a total of nearly 100,000 square feet. (The company also has a global logistics center in Hunt Valley.)
Its annual rent in Timonium will climb from $1.7 million this year to more than $2 million in 2017, according to the lease agreement. I don't have a current estimate of Tessco employees, but I found this dated estimate in their annual report last May:
As of March 28, 2010, we had 918 full-time equivalent employees. Of our full-time equivalent employees, 442 were engaged in customer and vendor service, marketing, sales and product management, 387 were engaged in fulfillment and distribution operations and 89 were engaged in administration and technology systems services.
So why would Tessco, which builds local wireless networks and sells mobile devices and accessories, expand its space if it reportedly is laying off? I don't know. I'm actually slightly confused now -- did the layoffs allegedly happen in Hunt Valley, Timonium, or both?
Maybe there's a long-term growth expectation that Tessco is preparing for? I just left a message for Jamie Holloway, a PR person at the company. Hopefully someone from Tessco responds.
UPDATE: I found another picture of Mr. Barnhill, but our archives of Tessco are pretty bare. This one is from 1999. I'm hoping he grants me an interview:
This is an archived version of the technology blog. For updated coverage, see the current baltTech location: baltimoresun.com/balttech
Comments
There were layoff in Hunt Valley (and GLC building 2 miles up the road). There were also layoffs at the distribution center in Reno NV. This is all because they are probably about to loose AT&T as a customer. AT&T was 60% of their sales (roughly). This was precipitated by AT&T loosing exclusivity to the iPhone. The first step was AT&T demanding (you can do that when you account for 60% of a companies business) better pricing. If they loose 60% of their sales, do you think they will have to lay off more than 30-60 out of a 1000 people? Look at the math. Here is the thing that never made sense to me; 500mil yearly sale, 5mil yearly profit and 1000 employees. That means tessco makes $5,000 profit from each employee. That always struck me as odd. How could they loose one of their big customers without laying off tons of people. I think the 30-60 was just the beginning. Oh, and that lease thing might be old. They had been rearranging everyone for a while and had recently added new space. If that is the case, that lease addition may have been prior to AT&T going sour.
Posted by: anonymous | February 21, 2011 7:17 PM
Typical TESSCO. Friend of mine who worked there - yes he was part of layoffs even though his team had a 57% sales increase last year - told me 40 people were laid off. Barnhill will talk about diversifying his customer base on every single earnings call, but always relies on one HUGE customer until they lose them and have to find another. Before ATT it was T Mobile. Always the same with this company
Posted by: dwb | February 23, 2011 11:35 AM
30-60 people fired? The real number is closer to 100. All locations were affected. Stay tuned because more will likely follow.
Posted by: anon | February 28, 2011 10:18 PM
Read the Company's filing, 60% of revenue attributed to AT&T is grossly inaccurate.
Posted by: Becky | March 2, 2011 1:31 PM
tessco has been doing bad since they lost one of there best paying company's nokia I use to work at tessco and I was laid off they use to give good yearly bonus checks but this year it wasn't even half of what it use to be and I do no that last year and I also heard a few months ago tessco in Baltimore did a huge lay off they laid all there temp workers as well as people who had worked there for years
Posted by: anonymous | October 18, 2011 1:42 PM