Henry Schein announces layoffs as part of plan to save $75M to $100M 

Henry Schein Inc., Long Island’s largest public company by revenue, announced plans Tuesday to lay off an unspecified number of workers as part of a broader restructuring plan.

The company, a distributor of branded and private-label products for dentist and physician offices, said in a release announcing its second quarter financial results that the restructuring plan would save the company $75 million to $100 million annually. 

In a statement, the company said the plan would also make the business more efficient and would help with recent acquisitions. 

"Our announcement today reflects the continuation of Henry Schein’s ongoing companywide restructuring efforts to further increase efficiencies as well as to integrate recent acquisitions," a Henry Schein spokesperson said in a statement.

The company did not disclose how many employees would be let go as part of the restructuring plan or if layoffs would be focused on its operations on Long Island. The company employs 1,486 workers locally, according to figures the company provided the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency in December 2022.

Employees there make an average annual salary of $131,421, according to IDA records.

"We anticipate that we will continue to maintain a significant presence on Long Island and in our Melville headquarters," a spokesperson said.

In its announcement, the company said restructuring costs would likely occur in the second half of the year and into 2025, though it had no estimate of the total costs. Though "plans are still being finalized," the company said, the costs are expected to primarily come from severance pay and facility related expenses. 

The announcement comes after a challenging few months.

Following a cyberattack of its manufacturing and distribution operations in October, the company said in February that it may have lost anywhere from $350 million to $400 million in sales that quarter. 

The cyberattack shut down the company's website for roughly a month during the last quarter of 2023, forcing sales staff to work with existing customers on fixing order issues rather than process new sales. 

Additionally, the company said challenging macro economic conditions forced it to lower forecast sales growth this year from about 4% to 6% over last year, as compared with the 8% to 10% the company had previously anticipated. 

"We are experiencing improving sales trends in our distribution businesses, however, the pace of recovery in these businesses since the cyber incident late last year has been slower than anticipated," Stanley M. Bergman, chairman and chief executive of Henry Schein said in a statement.

"Given the challenging economic environment in certain markets, as well as this delay in recovery from the cyber incident, we are updating our 2024 full-year financial guidance," Bergman said.

The same day the restructuring plan was announced, Bergman also announced the company's board had approved a $500 million stock buyback plan on July 31.

The company employs more than 25,000 workers globally and has operations or affiliate businesses in 33 countries and territories. The company reported sales of $12.3 billion last year.