More than six months after the completion of the merger between Brookdale and Emeritus, the nation’s now-largest senior living provider is continuing its repositioning efforts with the final phase of downsizing Emeritus staff at Emeritus’ Seattle-based headquarters.
Forty-one employees of Emeritus Senior Living Corp. (NYSE: ESC) are being laid off, the “final step” in reducing the Emeritus’ headquarters staff from about 300 to 50 after the company was acquired last year by Nashville-based Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD), The Seattle Times first reported this week.
This final round of layoffs, effective April 2, brings the number of employees at the Seattle-based Emeritus office down to 50. A Brookdale spokeswoman confirmed the layoffs with SHN, but declined to comment further.
Prior to completing the $2.8 billion merger deal with Emeritus, Brookdale announced plans to expand its national headquarters in the Nashville area. The corporate expansion will ultimately include a $2.1 million investment and the addition of 162 new jobs over the next five years, the company said in a June 2014 announcement, adding that those new jobs would include the addition of former Emeritus employees who would transition to Brookdale headquarters after the merger.
It’s unclear how many, if any, of those let go from Emeritus’ headquarters will be moving to the Nashville area or finding other positions within Brookdale.
In Brookdale’s 2014 third quarter earnings release — the first since its completion of the merger — total revenue was $1.1 billion, an increase of $354.9 million from the third quarter of 2013.
However, in more recent comments following the company’s third quarter 2014 earnings release Brookdale CEO Andy Smith noted that as part of the integration of Emeritus communities, operational realignment has caused some disruption in sales activities, lead conversion and occupancy levels within the legacy Brookdale assets.
Brookdale is scheduled to release fourth quarter earnings this week. In a preview of earnings, the company revised down its 2015 outlook. It also stated it would be renovating 150 former Emeritus communities in the near term.
Read The Seattle Times article here.
Written by Cassandra Dowell
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