A Minnesota-based pillow manufacturer recently had to lay off a bunch of workers.

In statement, MyPillow inventor Mike Lindell said the company was "forced to lay off 140 workers last week."

"I do not take decisions like this lightly and value every one of my 1,600 employees," Lindell added.

According to the statement, MyPillow hired about 500 employees towards the end of 2016. And in January, the company gave all of its employees raises.

"This was very unexpected," the CEO and inventor explained.

There's no explanation for exactly what happened, but Lindell noted he has new commercials in the works and hopes to be hiring again soon.

Recent flak

In December, the Better Business Bureau revoked its accreditation of MyPillow and gave the Chaska-based company an F rating.

The BBB – which is a nonprofit business and consumer watchdog group – said it was because of things like MyPillow's extensive and on-going “buy one, get one free” deals.

According to BBB code, offers like that should only be for a limited time – otherwise it should not be considered a special sale.

And in November, the company had to pay $1 million in a lawsuit over some of its ads. According to Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, ads included customer testimonials that the pillows helped treat things like insomnia, sleep apnea, and fibromyalgia.