Cue Health is shutting down for good, with every remaining U.S. employee receiving a final paycheck on Friday. The San Diego diagnostics firm once employed 1,500 people and counted Google, the NBA, and the Department of Defense among its customers during the pandemic’s peak testing frenzy.
But demand for COVID-19 tests has collapsed, and Cue’s fortunes have cratered along with it. The company has spent more than a year cutting jobs, including a May reduction that eliminated 230 positions and halved its workforce. Monday’s WARN filing confirms the endgame: all remaining staffers, including the leadership team, lose their jobs this week.
Chief HR officer Allison Blackwell submitted the notice, which states the company will distribute final paychecks to all employees on May 24. California law requires such filings for mass layoffs, and this one indicates workers learned of the shutdown’s scope on Monday.
What happens to Cue’s assets and operations after Friday remains unknown. The mass termination suggests the business will soon cease to exist. Neither the company nor CEO Clint Sever responded to requests for comment.
Cue’s collapse follows a brutal financial slide. After going public in September 2021 at a $2.3 billion valuation, the company posted profits that year. Then came the losses: $194.1 million in 2022, followed by $373.5 million in 2023.
Regulatory trouble may have sealed Cue’s fate. On May 9, the FDA informed the company that inspectors found alterations to its COVID-19 tests that produced less reliable results. Days later, the agency issued a public safety notice urging healthcare providers and consumers to stop using Cue’s products entirely and to discard any remaining test cartridges in household trash.
The once-high-flying pandemic darling now faces dissolution, a stark reminder that COVID-era demand never guaranteed lasting success.
