Skokie-based clean energy company LanzaTech Global, Inc., which has been heralded in TIME magazine and by Prince William’s global environmental competition, plans to lay off 44 of its 383 employees in the first two weeks of June, per state of Illinois filings.
The move comes as operating expenses rise but revenues fall, per quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and as the company plans to halve its rented space at Skokie’s Illinois Science + Technology Park.
Last month, the company acknowledged it received an offer from Carbon Direct Capital Management to buy the carbon recycling company at $0.02 a share, according to a press release from LanzaTech. In January 2023, the stock was valued at $10.43 a share, per Nasdaq.
LanzaTech filed plans to lay off 44 to the Illinois Department of Commerce on May 12, offering “mass layoff” as the reason. The first layoff date is scheduled for June 1, per state filings.
LanzaTech was founded in New Zealand and has headquartered in Skokie since 2014 in the Illinois Science + Tech Park, according to previous reporting.
The company’s SEC filing said it “transforms waste carbon into the chemical building blocks for consumer goods such as sustainable fuels, fabrics, and packaging that people use in their daily lives.”
“We are a gas fermentation company,” Dr. Zara Summers, chief science officer at LanzaTech previously told Pioneer Press. “You might know about sugar fermentation if you drink beer or wine. We use a bacterial catalyst that takes gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and convert those to ethanol at a commercial scale.”
TIME Magazine named LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren to its worldwide Top 100 Climate Leaders for Business for 2023, and it was named the sole United States finalist for Prince William’s November 2022 Earthshot prize, which honors the best solutions worldwide for tackling climate change.
In its recent quarterly SEC filing, however, the company wrote, “We have not achieved operating profitability since our formation. Our net losses after tax were $19.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $25.5 million for the prior year period. As of March 31, 2025 we had an accumulated deficit of $988.8 million compared to an accumulated deficit of $969.6 million as of December 31, 2024. We anticipate that we will continue to incur losses until we sufficiently commercialize our technology.”
Kate Walsh, LanzaTech’s VP of Investor Relations and Tax, told Pioneer Press that LanzaTech is in a transition phase and is ready to put into practice the research knowledge it has gained these past few years.
“We’re pivoting the company from a Research and Development hub to one that’s commercially focused on deploying our proven technology,” Walsh said. “…So there’s a transition that comes along with that.”
Walsh said the downsizing and the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel, especially with regulated markets in the UK and the EU, will help make the company profitable.
The decision to downsize the company was not influenced by the political climate regarding green energy, nor the tariffs, she added.
LanzaTech also will save money by cutting in half the space it rents at the Skokie tech park, from 106,661 to 53,616 square feet, effective July 1, per SEC filings.
Per the filings, LanzaTech said it was unsure how the layoffs will affect health of the company overall, “and may result in significant adverse consequences.”
As LanzaTech moves forward, the group also runs into danger of having its stock delisted from the Nasdaq due to its low valuation, per the filing. Delisted companies generally face steep challenges in raising money.
The village of Skokie’s Director of Communications and Community Engagement Patrick Deignan released a statement on behalf of the village.
“Innovative companies like LanzaTech play a vital role in strengthening Skokie’s local economy, supporting high-quality jobs and enhancing the Village’s longstanding reputation as a center for scientific advancement. The Village remains committed to fostering a strong climate for innovation and will continue supporting the success of LanzaTech and other companies contributing to our community and beyond.”
“LanzaTech is an important part of Skokie’s science, technology and local business landscape,” said Mayor Ann Tennes in a statement emailed to Pioneer Press. “Although we’re disappointed that the company’s strategic actions will result in a reduction in their local workforce, we remain confident in LanzaTech’s future and the continued impact they’ll make here in Skokie and around the world.”