Online marketplace Etsy is shedding 225 jobs, about 11% of its workforce, as part of a plan to bring down its costs.
The roles at risk of redundancy will include that of chief marketing officer.
Chief executive Josh Silverman told staff the cuts were needed because sales had been “essentially flat” for two years.
He said laid-off staff would be paid until 2 January and acknowledged the poor timing timing of the cuts, calling them “unfortunate”.
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The lay-offs could cost the company as £23.7m in severance payments, employee benefits and related costs, Etsy told investors.
Following the job cuts Etsy’s core marketplace team will employ around 1,770 people.
The online marketplace allows independent sellers to set up their own shop. It specialises in bespoke items, handicrafts or things not usually available in High Street shops.
As a US firm it is listed on the Nasdaq exchange in New York but has seen a fall in share value from $294 during the Covid pandemic to $84 today.
The company is led by chief executive Josh Silverman who has worked at businesses including eBay, Skype and American Express. He has been chief executive since 2017.
Silverman said that at the same time as sales being flat, “employee expenses have grown, even as we have introduced significant cost-cutting measures and adjusted or paused hiring plans. This is ultimately not a sustainable trajectory and we must change it.”
Weak sales in the run up to Christmas have already seen toymaker Hasbro announce it will cut 1,100 employees – close to 20% of its global workforce. “Market headwinds… have proven to be stronger and more persistent than planned,” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks said.
Etsy was originally founded in 2005 by Rob Kalin, Chris Maguire, Haim Schoppik and Jared Tarbell who started the business from Kalin’s Brooklyn apartment. None of them remain with the firm.
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