EMCC European Monitoring Centre on Change

Beat

Company/Organisation:
Beat

Geographic Location

Country: Netherlands
Region: Groot-Amsterdam; Noord-Holland; West-Nederland
Location of affected unit(s): Amsterdam

Company

Sector: Transportation / storage
Transportation and storage
49.32 - Taxi operation
Number Employed: 900
Group: Mercedes-Benz Group and BMW

Employment Effects

Announcement Date: 11-11-2022
Planned Job Reductions min: 100
Planned Job Reductions max: 100
Type of Restructuring: Internal restructuring
Employment Effect Start: 01-12-2022
Foreseen End Date: 31-12-2022
Direct Dismissals: 100

Additional Information

As part of the global closure of taxi app company, Beat, announced a consequent 100 job cuts at its Amsterdam office. Of the global company workforce, the 100 employees have been employed in Amsterdam to develop and maintain the app. The lack of profitability for shareholder expectations, unfavourable market conditions and internal turnover are all cited as reasons for the discontinuation of Beat. Social partners have not been referenced in this closure process, however the company has stated internal processes are in place to help employees transition to partner companies, such as Free Now. 

Founded in 2011 in Greece, Beat was acquired by Mercedes-Benz Group in 2017 for €40 million. Subsequently, the Group entered a joint venture with BMW to create a platform division, Free Now, where Beat merged with other brands to join the platform division. According to the company, 26 million customers and 800,000 drivers have used the platform to date.

The global restructuring has previously been recorded in the ERM Events database in 2022 (Beat-2022-WO).

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