Reportage on this has not been very accurate.
Spoiler alert- although I work closely with Campagnolo, I am not an employee of the company. I do not in any way speak for Campagnolo on this matter - however the following notes hopefully give a clearer summary of the situation than some of the more hysterical stories in the media:
The initial reports that appeared across the cycling press, were generated by a single report in La Gazzettino, a local Vicenza / Treviso newspaper that spoke of 40% job losses as a done deal in the headline - in fact, those losses, even if they occur, will only be at Vicenza - which whilst it is HQ, is not Campagnolo's highest-employing site & it's a number that was not announced in any PR by the company.
For those interested, although it's behind a paywall, it's worth reading the full story - Google translate gives a good version for those who are not Italian speakers.
The fact is that the 40% figure is *not* a done deal. The recovery plan, of which the projected redundancies are only a part, was presented to the Unions just over a week ago includes a raft of cost reduction methods, both in supply chain and production- the company acknowledge a level of redundancies at Vicenza but those numbers are not agreed yet.
Campagnolo have released a statement in the last 48 hours that puts more flesh on the bones of the situation. Bike Radar amongst others have clear reportage of that statement.
Is there a problem in components companies generally?
Yes there is.
Are Shimano and SRAM affected?
Yes they are.
Why does this appear to affect Campagnolo worse?
Partly because they are a smaller business, partly because unlike Shimano, they don't have such a diverse business and unlike SRAM, they are not as heavily externally financed, partly because they are closer to home, with 90% of what they make, produced in Europe and almost all of their production is in-house.
The very low prices that we are seeing vs RRP throughout the components market is a reflection of how difficult the situation is - the 40% discounts available on some Shimano products are not there because some company executives have had a Damascene moment and decided to eschew the profit motive - they reflect an overproduction / overstock situation, one which Shimano, for one, have publically commented on, in their 2024/25 financial results.
So, the writing of obituaries is probably premature - it's a very tough situation, it's an extremely tough market - but for Campagnolo, 2x13 (at RRP , hitting much the same price point as Dura Ace) and the just-released 1x13 wireless electronic groups (pricing very similar at RRP to SRAM 1x XPLR) have started extremely well, there is still a Super Record wired 12s EPS option and there are still Super Record & Chorus 12s rim and disc brake, Centaur 11s and Veloce 10s "shifting group" options - so, whilst there is still an emphasis on high end, it's not true to say that there isn't a fair spread of options across the product range, nor an exclusive concentration on electronics.
Lower price point options for wireless are coming, too, to address the general affordability isue.
