US firm Wayfair laying off 1,650 employees, 13% of workforce

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - American e-commerce firm Wayfair announced Friday it is laying off 13% of workforce, which is around 1,650 employees.

The job cuts include approximately 19% of the firm's corporate team, and it is expected to deliver annualized cost savings of more than $280 million for the company, it said in a statement.

"The changes announced today reflect a return to our core principles on resource allocation, such as getting fit on spans and layers as well as focusing on our highest priorities," said Niraj Shah, CEO, co-founder and co-chairman.

The Boston-based firm, which sells home goods and furniture online, said it expects to incur between $70 million and $80 million of costs in the first quarter of 2024 due to the workforce reduction, consisting mostly of employee severance and benefit costs.

Wayfair's decision comes after other major US firms, such as Hasbro, Etsy and Macy’s, announced in recent weeks they are planning employee reductions, from 1,100 to 2,300.

Dozens of companies in the US' technology sector have been cutting jobs as they struggle with lower income and falling advertisement revenue.

Uber, Reddit, Disney, 3M, Amazon, Yahoo, Affirm, Zoom, Dell, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, PayPal, and Google's parent company, Alphabet, have laid off workers by thousands since the last quarter of 2023.