Medtronic laying off 1,000 workers despite growing profits

Medtronic is experiencing good times. A thousand employees are experiencing hard times.

Add Medtronic to the list of big businesses laying off employees despite growing profits. The company, which reported a 28-percent increase in earnings and 3 percent growth in revenue last year is laying off 1,000 employees.

That figure includes about 220 Medtronic employees in Mound View, Minnesota, who will be laid off, according to the Pioneer Press.

Medtronic Chief Financial Officer Gary Ellis told the paper these sorts of cuts aren't unusual.

"It's kind of the normal, ongoing thing that goes forward as we shift resources from slower-growing markets to faster-growing markets," Ellis said.

The company is reportedly struggling in its biggest sales areas: heart rhythm devices and tools used in spinal surgery.