Origin Materials Announces Sale of PET Technology and Workforce Reduction
Origin Materials announced that its board of directors has determined, after consideration of potential strategic alternatives, that it is in the best interests of its shareholders to sell its PET cap technology and other remaining assets followed by an orderly wind down of operations. To reduce costs and support the planned sale, the company is reducing its workforce, with affected employees expected to depart by the end of the month. As part of the reduction in force, members of the executive team will be leaving the company, with John Bissell stepping down as CEO while continuing to serve on the board of directors, and CFO and COO Matt Plavan appointed as interim CEO. "Our ongoing work to support customer qualification processes and to optimize our products for manufacturing is a critical prerequisite to commercially scaling this technology, and continues to be our primary focus during this period," said Plavan. "We previously reported that, absent near-term financing and reductions in operating expenses, our existing cash and cash equivalents would allow us to continue our planned operations into the third quarter of 2026. In addition, over the past year the Board of Directors, management, and external advisors devoted substantial time and effort to identifying and pursuing strategic opportunities to enhance shareholder value. To date, however, our attempts to source additional capital have been unsuccessful, and the strategic review process has not yielded a potential transaction which the Board views as reasonably likely to provide greater realizable value to shareholders than the sale of the technology followed by an orderly winddown of the Company. Therefore, today we are announcing a reduction in force to enable Origin to maximize shareholder value through the orderly sale of capital and technology assets."
