Web 2.0-era personal productivity app maker Evernote Corp., acquired by Italian technology company Bending Spoons S.p.A. in November, has laid off most of its staff in the U.S. and Chile and has relocated the remaining staff to Italy.

In a statement from Bending Spoons Chief Executive Officer Luca Ferrari reported July 7 by SFGate, most of Evernote’s operations will be moved to Europe because of the “significant boost in operational efficiency that will come as a consequence of centralizing operations in Europe.

” The exact number of employees laid off in the closure of the Bay Area and Chile offices was not disclosed, but the company had previously laid off 129 employees at the beginning of the year. According to SFGate, affected workers were primarily engineering and information technology employees.

“Our plans for Evernote are as ambitious as ever: Going forward, a growing, dedicated team based in Europe will continue to assume ownership of the Evernote product,” Ferrari said. “This team will also be in an ideal position to leverage the extensive expertise and strength of the 400-plus workforce at Bending Spoons, many of whom have been working on Evernote full-time since the acquisition.”

Laid-off employees are being offered 16 weeks of salary and a prorated performance bonus, up to one year of health insurance and visa support.

The layoffs do not come as much of a surprise following the acquisition, given that Evernote stopped being a market leader over a decade ago. Founded in 2000, the year of the dot-com crash, Evernote builds apps and products that help individuals and teams work together.

The company offered collaborative workspaces years before the likes of Google Docs even existed, allowing users to work anywhere and make notes with support for text, images, audio, scans, PDFs and documents. As the company faced stiff competition, Evernote relaunched its app in 2015, but the attempts to remain relevant found little support.

That Evernote was acquired last year was a real surprise, given that people had been predicting the demise of the company since 2018, while other reports suggested it was in a death spiral. In the face of companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Google LLC providing the same services for free, it was understandable why Evernote was struggling.

Under the ownership of Bending Spoons, Evernote could see its fortunes turn around. Bending Spoons has a deep war chest, having raised $340 million in November and a further $77 million in March, according to Crunchbase.

Image: Evernote