Flexport CEO rescinds more than 75 job offers via social media

The past two days have been a whirlwind of news out of Flexport . Yesterday, Flexport announced that former Amazon Chief Executive Dave Clark , who had been co-CEO and then CEO at Flexport since September 2022, resigned Wednesday. Flexport founder and former CEO Ryan Petersen , who served as co-CEO with Clark for six months before leaving the company, has resumed his role as CEO. The move was sudden, with Clark even posting Tuesday to his LinkedIn account that he would be representing Flexport at an event in Seattle next week. Neither Clark nor Petersen responded to requests for comment from Air Cargo Next. In a Thursday memo to Flexport employees, which Peterson posted on X, the former Twitter, he announced the change in leadership and hinted that Clark may be leaving to run for governor of Texas. “It’s clear that important changes are needed to sustain our growth and return to profitability,” Petersen wrote. Clark’s exit comes four months after the company acquired Shopify Logistics , with the latter trading its assets for a 13% equity stake in Flexport worth about $1 billion, according to a press release from Shopify during the acquisition in May. Flexport was valued at $8 billion at that time. Looming questions remain about what will happen to the Shopify fulfilment service amid the sudden leadership swap. “I don’t want to say that they’re stuck with it; [Flexport] can always divest it,” Derek Lossing , founder and senior adviser at Cirrus Global Advisors , told Air Cargo Next . “But I think their options are [to] probably build it out at a slower pace, divest it back and try to sell it; or continue what they were doing,” Lossing said. “But it would be hard to believe that the leadership team … in the way that they’ve changed leaders, [could stay] the course at the same speed. It would be kind of an unexpected outcome.” Additional exodus Hours after the news of Clark’s departure spread, executives Teresa Carlson and Darcie Henry , both of whom had been hired during Clark’s tenure, left the company. Carlson, Flexport’s president and chief commercial officer, noted on her LinkedIn page that she was grateful for her time at Flexport, but did not say why she left or where she is headed. Carlson and Henry, Flexport’s chief human resources officer, had both previously worked at Amazon. Additionally, Petersen announced this morning on X that Flexport was rescinding more than 75 job offers made in recent months. [caption id="attachment_57138065" align="aligncenter" width="380"] Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen announces via social media that more than 75 job offers have been rescinded.[/caption] In the post, Petersen laid the blame on former management, writing, “It’s messed up. But no way around it, we have had a hiring freeze for months.” He went on to write that he had no idea why more than 75 people were hired or why there were more than 200 open positions listed on the company’s website. He then promised that each person would be contacted by Flexport. In additional posts, Petersen urged other companies looking to hire “top tech talent” to reach out to him so he could connect them with Flexport’s jilted new hires. He later updated that to say that more than 100 companies had reached out. “It’s always unfortunate when these situations unfold for the companies — and for the employees and for the customers,” Lossing said “Sometimes ripping the Band-Aid off is a better solution than having a slow-burning fire. But I would broadly say, no one wins in a week like this, that the existing employees don’t win, that incoming employees don’t win. The shareholders barely win. It’s just another unfortunate situation.” Petersen also posted on X today that Flexport is looking to sublet office space in San Francisco. “We have way too much for our size — we rented space for a 2X bigger team,” Petersen wrote. “New official Flexport real estate policy is we don’t get new office space til there’s always a line at the bathroom in the current office space.” This comes after Flexport laid off about 640 employees, roughly 20% of its workforce, in January. “I think Flexport will revert back to focusing on its core, international business,” Lossing said. “And [it will] be looking at competing with the traditional forwarders, and trying to do so in a profitable way. So that will probably be where their focus is.” Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:30PM EST. The clock is ticking! It is your last chance to join Air Cargo Next for its second annual Air Cargo Tech Summit on Sept. 18-19 in Brussels, sponsored by Unisys and Brussels Airport and featuring a fireside chat with Brian Hodges, managing director, American Airlines Cargo. For more details and to register, click here .

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