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This is part of an ongoing series monitoring the fluctuating pulse of D.C.’s very own online coupon company, LivingSocial.
LivingSocial, the cash-strapped, D.C.-based online coupon company, announced today that it would be laying off 20 percent of its workforce, which amounts to nearly 400 employees. It’s unclear how many of these employees work in D.C., but the company will be closing its sales office in Torrance, Calif.
The announcement comes about three months after the company named a new CEO, Gautam Thakar, a former eBay executive. The company said these recent layoffs are part of a “corporate reorganization.” When Thakur took over, the company announced in a release today, he conducted a comprehensive internal review and determined “restructuring” was necessary for future growth.
“The actions today will create a more streamlined and efficient sales model that will enable the business to fund areas of growth – namely technology, data science and mobile,” Thakar says.
In the past year, the company has shifted away from the daily-deal model, instead opting for an “online marketplace” where deals last for extended periods of times.
At the end of 2012, the company laid off around 400 employees. In 2013, it received $110 million in investments (about half from Amazon), but it also quarterly%20losses” target=”_blank”>posted some big quarterly losses.
If the company wants to collect on the $33 million in city tax breaks the D.C. Council approved, it needs to employ 1,000 people in the District by 2015, hire an additional 50 people each year after that, and build a new office in the District of at least 200,000 square feet.
“This reorganization begins to address the need for the company to further focus on reshaping its mission and redefining the market in an industry that is stagnant, and overly dependent on email,” Thakar says. “Today is an important step in the refounding of our company. We are committed to a multi-year journey to build a sustainable business that better meets the needs of our millions of customers and thousands of merchants.”
Photo by Darrow Montgomery