Wayfair cutting 10% of workers as layoffs mount
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Wayfair Inc. is cutting 10% of its global workforce as layoffs in the tech industry mount.
The discount home retailer plans to shed 1,750 jobs as outlined in a Friday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move is part of ongoing plans to thin out management and become more agile in the current environment.
"In hindsight, similar to our technology peers, we scaled our spend too quickly over the last few years," CEO Niraj Shah admitted Friday.
The majority of those roles – 1,200 – are corporate employees, the company said.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | WAYFAIR INC. | 54.74 | -0.01 | -0.02% |
WAYFAIR CUTTING 5% OF GLOBAL WORKFORCE
Wayfair joins a slew of tech powerhouses in cutting jobs including Amazon, Meta, Twitter, Microsoft and Google parent Alphabet, which also announced on Friday, it was laying off 12,000 workers. This also marks Wayfair's second workforce reduction within the past six months.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| META | META PLATFORMS INC. | 501.80 | +7.63 | +1.54% |
| TWTR | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. | n.a. |
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 404.33 | -7.51 | -1.82% |
| GOOGL | ALPHABET INC. | 155.97 | +0.50 | +0.32% |
The company already axed 5% of its global workforce in August when it initiated its cost-efficiency plan in order to become more profitable.
The Wayfair Inc. website on a laptop computer arranged in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
At the time, the company admitted that it scaled too quickly during the pandemic and that its team was too large for the current environment. The sentiment was reiterated with the latest cuts.
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These workforce reductions, though difficult, "are important decisions to get back to our 20-year roots as a focused, lean company premised on high ambitions and great execution," Shah added.
The move announced Friday will further help the company strengthen its "future without reducing its total without reducing our total addressable market, our strategic objectives, or our ability to deliver them over time," according to Shah.
Wayfair's Boston building on Boylston St. is pictured on Feb. 13, 2020. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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The company expects more than $1.4 billion in annualized cost actions from its cost efficiency plan. Both workforce reductions represent $750 million in annualized cost savings, the company said.