Layoffs

Zillow lays off 300 employees in latest workforce shift • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 26, 2022Posted in Commerce, Layoffs, ZillowNo Comments

Zillow has laid off about 300 employees as it is shifting focus towards technology-related positions in the company, ZebethMedia has learned from sources and confirmed with the company over e-mail. The Seattle-headquartered online real estate marketplace informed its impacted employees about the decision on Tuesday. Shortly after receiving the communication, the impacted employees had to leave the company. The layoffs impacted Zillow Offer advisors, PA sales and back-end staff at Zillow Home Loans as well as Zillow Closing Services, as well as other teams. “As part of our normal business process, we continuously evaluate and responsibly manage our resources as we create digital solutions to make it easier for people to move. This week, we have made the difficult — but necessary — decision to eliminate a small number of roles and will shift those resources to key growth areas around our housing super-app. We’re still hiring in key technology-related roles across the company,” a Zillow spokesperson said in a statement emailed to ZebethMedia. The company did not reveal the percentage of its workforce affected by the decision. However, in its last quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in August, Zillow reported that it had 5,791 full-time employees in its workforce. Using that figure, this layoff has impacted around 5% of employees. In November last year, Zillow announced that it would lay off a quarter of its staff — around 2,000 people — due to shutting down its home-buying service Offers that aimed to provide sellers with instant home offers. The company, at the time, had 8,000 employees. Zillow has become one of the latest tech companies to lay off employees during this economic slowdown. Earlier this week, telehealth unicorn Cerebral reduced its workforce by 20% due to an ongoing push for efficiency. Companies including Netflix, Momentive Global, Spotify and Tencent have also made similar decisions recently. Similarly, Indian startups including Byju’s and Ola have let hundreds of employees go amid the downfall of funding and investments.

54gene CEO steps down as the company looks to cut more jobs • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 25, 2022Posted in 54gene, africa, Biotech & Health, Layoffs, StartupsNo Comments

54gene co-founder and chief executive officer Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong has stepped down from his executive role, the African genomics company confirmed to ZebethMedia today. The three-year-old company has appointed General Counsel Teresia L. Bost as interim CEO. She will be supported by Chief Operating Officer Delali Attipoe, the company said. Ene-Obong, on the other hand, will retain his position on 54gene’s board while moving to a new role of senior advisor. Ene-Obong’s resignation and Bost’s ascension comes two months after 54gene laid off 95 employees, or more than 30% of its workforce, in August. The layoffs affected employees, mostly contract staff (in labs and sales departments) recruited to work in 54gene’s COVID business line launched in 2020 to complement its flagship product: a biobank of the African genome. Founded in 2019 by Ene-Obong, 54gene addresses the gap in the global genomics market where Africans make up less than 3% of genetic material used in pharmaceutical research despite being more genetically diverse than any other population. The audacious project has received over $40 million from investors such as Adjuvant Capital, Y Combinator and Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) and partnered with organizations like Illumina, Genentech and Parexel. Biotechs globally tend to have a long-term approach toward making money; in fact, such companies can still be worth billions with little to no revenue. For the Washington-based but Africa-focused 54gene, its primary revenue path involves working with pharmaceutical companies to co-develop drugs and medicine–and that takes time. A typical time frame for a new drug from creation to market entry can take up to a decade, so it made sense for 54gene to turn its lab capabilities to COVID testing as a new source of revenue. However, the decline in COVID testing has presented 54gene with fresh challenges: dwindling revenues and redundant roles. Though it has already let go of 95 employees, the company confirmed that it will conduct a second round of layoffs following restructuring across several departments. According to the YC-backed company, it wants to focus resources on its core mission of African genomics research and equalizing precision medicine. At the same time, its clinical diagnostic arm takes the back seat. Here’s more information on the company’s new direction: Going forward, the primary focus will be on the unique genomic research the company has started by further leveraging its genomic datasets derived from 54gene’s state-of-the-art biobank, that currently houses over 130,000 unique patient samples and corresponding genomic data, all with the objective of positioning the company to make contributions to precision medicine and drug discovery. This continues the meaningful work the company has invested in, whilst de-emphasizing the clinical diagnostic business line at the time. It’s unclear exactly why Ene-Obong is stepping down. Yet, it’s not farfetched to assume that the company’s recent struggles are a contributing factor. In response to whether the company’s decision to let him go was performance-related or because the ex-CEO was moving on to new projects, 54gene only said, “Abasi has decided to step down as the CEO but will continue to support the company in its go-forward plans such as strategic partnerships and fundraising. We cannot comment on what other new interests he will pursue if any, but we wish him well and still consider him a key team member.” Interestingly, the former CEO’s resignation also comes one month after Ogochukwu Francis Osifo, the company’s co-founder and VP, Engineering, left the company in September. As 54gene shifts into a new phase, Ene-Obong, who consulted for organizations such as Gilead and IMS Health in the past, believes the startup is in the best hands as Bost and Attipoe “have deep insight into the workings of 54gene.” Bost boasts more than 20 years of extensive knowledge and experience across pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries with companies such as Celgene and Quartet Health while providing strategic support of securities matters, corporate governance and finance matters. Attipoe, on the other hand, brings more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical sector working with firms like Roche and Genentech. Ene-Obong, addressing his exit and the transition in a statement, said: I have always believed that the scale of genetic diversity in Africa and other highly diverse populations will materially impact our understanding of biology and lead to better medicines and interventions for the global population, and I am proud of what has been achieved at 54gene. I’d like to thank the 54gene Board for their support over the years, and the many talented scientists and technology professionals I have had the pleasure to work with during my time at the company. I will continue to support the company and the scientific ecosystem, particularly the African genomics ecosystem. Teresia and Delali bring decades of experience in building and scaling high-impact global pharma companies, and they also have deep insight into the workings of 54gene. I am excited to see them take the company to its next phase.

Telehealth unicorn Cerebral lays off 20% of staff for ‘operational efficiencies’ • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 24, 2022Posted in Biotech & Health, Cerebral, Layoffs, mental health, StartupsNo Comments

Cerebral is laying off 20% of its staff, citing an ongoing push for efficiency at the digital health unicorn. A spokesperson for Cerebral confirmed the layoffs to ZebethMedia but did not share the specific number of employees affected. According to the WSJ, which first reported the news, and Insider, some 400 people will lose their jobs, primarily clinical staff and care counselors. “Today’s changes are part of Cerebral’s ongoing transformation program, which drives to create more sustainable growth and stability, while further delivering our mission to democratize access to high-quality mental health care for all,” a Cerebal spokesperson told ZebethMedia. “These changes are focused specifically on realizing operational efficiencies while prioritizing clinical quality and safety across the organization.” The company did not explain what type of severance, if any, was offered to employees, but did tell ZebethMedia “we are doing everything we can to support our impacted colleagues as they pursue other opportunities.” Cerebral’s model explains care counselors meet with patients regularly to manage medications prescribed by clinicians and provide support. The SoftBank-backed company has come under scrutiny for making it easier to provide ADHD medication to potential clients. Perhaps too easy: allegations led to an investigation by the Department of Justice, into potential violations of the Controlled Substances Act for overprescribing prescriptions such as Adderall. A lawsuit was also filed against the company by Matthew Truebe, former vice president of product and engineering, alleging company higher-ups encouraged Cerebral employees to prescribe stimulants to all ADHD patients. According to a press release, the company has since stopped providing those services, citing the need to review its clinical quality and safety processes. “Based on recent feedback from stakeholders, it is clear that this has become a distraction from our focus to democratize access to mental health care services, provide treatment for more patients and add service lines for new conditions,” Robertson said in the release. The San Francisco-based company has raised over $426 million since its founding in 2020, $300 million of which was announced in a Series C last December. Cerebral is valued at $4.8 billion, according to Behavioral Health Business. Earlier this year Cerebral laid off “hundreds” of people primarily affecting its support and operations team to better its programs. At the time, the company did not provide any details to ZebethMedia explaining any severance offered to employees. Cerebral is just one of many healthcare startups making cuts in the past few months, such as Truepill and Noom. Current and former Cerebral employees can contact Andrew Mendez by e-mail at andrew.mendez@techcrunch.com or on Signal, a secure encrypted messaging app, at 669-832-6800.

Elon Musk reportedly wants to lay off 75% of Twitter’s staff • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 21, 2022Posted in Elon Musk, Layoffs, Social, TwitterNo Comments

Musk has previously gestured at plans for layoffs if he were to buy Twitter, but those cuts could go even deeper than previously imagined. According to a new report from the Washington Post, Musk plans to purge 75% of Twitter’s workforce, or around 5,600 employees. If Musk’s vision for a much leaner platform comes to fruition, Twitter would be forced to operate with a sliver of its current staff. Between broader economic factors and ongoing criticisms that Twitter has failed to deliver on its promise (at least as far as investors are concerned), Twitter was always going to trim its workforce. But cutting the staff down by three quarters isn’t what most people had in mind. The Post noted that Twitter already planned to cut around a quarter of its workforce — but leaving a quarter of the workforce is a different situation altogether. A grain of salt is necessary here. While Musk reportedly described his aggressive plan over the past few months, there’s often a gulf between his words and the reality of the situation. Musk might want to lay off 75% of Twitter’s workforce — what dollar-signs-for-eyes investor or CEO wouldn’t want to make more money with fewer pesky salaries to pay! — but it’s also conceivable that Twitter wouldn’t even be able to operate if cut to the bone. Musk clearly lacks a fundamental understanding of some serious issues the company faces, some of which could only be resolved by more investment in key areas. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO was keen to lean on Twitter’s former head of security turned whistleblower Peiter Zatko when it suited him, but some of the dire security and safety needs that Zatko brought up certainly wouldn’t be resolved by gutting the whole company. Musk also barely has a grasp of the content moderation issues the company grapples with, another area that benefits from having more humans involved — not just a thrifty algorithm at the wheel. Certainly, and sadly, trust and safety would likely face deep cuts if Musk has his way. It’s also totally plausible that the 75% number is just another trick he pulled out of his hat to impress whoever he was talking to, maybe bankers he was courting for the acquisition or the various slavering rich men he texts with. For the sake of Twitter’s already very stressed current workforce, we definitely hope that winds up being the case. The deal, which is now to back on track after months of Musk sowing chaos, is expected to close by October 28.

Beyond Meat to cut 19% of its workforce amid sales slump • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 15, 2022Posted in Beyond Meat, Layoffs, meat substitutes, StartupsNo Comments

Beyond Meat plans to lay off about 200 employees, or 19% of its workforce, according to a regulatory filing disclosed Friday. The company cited declining sales and said the layoffs are “based on cost-reduction initiatives intended to reduce operating expenses…and target cash flow positive operations within the second half of 2023.” Beyond Meat expects the cuts to be completed by the end of the year. Company shares, which opened Friday on the Nasdaq already 87% down from its 52-week high, fell even further in mid-morning trading following the layoff news. The stock hit a 52-week low of $12.76 earlier in the week, last trading around $13.95, which puts the company’s market value below $900 million. As part of the job cuts, the company said the role of chief growth officer/North America president was eliminated. Deanna Jurgens, who held that role, will leave the company on October 17. In addition, chief financial officer Philip Hardin notified the company that he would be stepping down October 12 “to pursue another opportunity.” Lubi Kutua, who was previously Beyond Meat’s vice president of financial planning, analysis and investor relations, was appointed by the board to serve in that role, effective October 13. The company also cut its full-year revenue guidance, expecting third-quarter net revenue of about $82 million, down 23% to the same quarter in 2021. Full-year 2022 net revenue is expected to be about $400 million to $425 million, which will be a decrease of between 14% and 9%, respectively, compared to the prior year. The company had previously forecasted year-end revenue to be between $470 million to $520 million, the filing said. A request for comment on the changes from Beyond Meat was not immediately returned. The company had announced a 4% reduction in workforce in August, but the news also comes as its chief operating officer, Douglas Ramsey, left the company — his last day was Friday — following his recent arrest that charged him with assault after he allegedly bit a man’s nose. Jonathan Nelson was promoted to head up operations and supply chain. Current and former Beyond Meat employees can contact Christine Hall by e-mail at chall.techcrunch@gmail.com.

Clear Capital lays off 27% of its global staff • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 14, 2022Posted in Clear Capital, Commerce, Layoffs, real estate techNo Comments

Clear Capital, a real estate valuation technology company and firm, is laying off 27% of its staff months after freezing mass hiring, ZebethMedia has learned from sources. A spokesperson for Clear Capital confirmed the layoffs to ZebethMedia but did not share the specific number of employees impacted. Last November, the company announced they had 1,400 total global employees, so using that figure the layoff could have impacted 378 employees. The reduction primarily impacted its operational team, according to sources. “Clear Capital is restructuring all company divisions to reduce expenses and support our future business strategy amidst today’s housing market reality,” said Duane Andrews, CEO of Clear Capital in a written statement to ZebethMedia. “This will allow us to refocus the business on key areas and ensure we are on track for sustainable growth. The CEO also cited ”the impact of a rising interest rate environment in the mortgage industry has resulted in a significant decrease in volume from our customers,” as a reason for the layoffs. The company did not explain what type of severance, if any, was offered to employees. In an internal memo sent to employees obtained by ZebethMedia, Andrews explained Clear Capital executives had anticipated a decrease in work volume over the summer but did not expect to make cuts come fall. “Keeping folks engaged and contributing was necessary; our forecasts showed that the Fall would bring increased volume,” read Andrews’ memo. “As we approached Fall, the markets stated indicating otherwise, and we now know volume will not return for a significant period of time.” Andrews added the decision to cut staff and locations was “a last resort” and “there are no guarantees” that further cuts won’t be made. Sources explained employees were required to attend an “abrupt” Google Meet call at 9 a.m. PST on Wednesday. Once in, they were split into two groups: those that would remain and those laid off. Employees were told back in August that there would be no layoffs, sources say. Sources declined to comment on the record due to fear of retaliation, and because they said Clear Capital advised employees not to speak to the press. According to a meeting call recording obtained by ZebethMedia, Clear Capital’s Vice President of Customer Success Heather Shick and Executive Vice President of Customer Experience Luke Fredrick addressed the layoffs to employees and asked for those staying to feed into their “grit”. “Everything that we planned on with this was so that we didn’t need to do it again,” Shick said, “Our goal is to not have this meeting a second time, but there is no guarantee. Your workloads are going to change. You’re going to be busier. We are all going to be busier, and it’s going to be tough.” Shick further explained in the call that inflation rates in the real estate investing market led to the company’s decision. Inflation rates have surged drastically after the COVID-19 pandemic and have impacted the real estate space. As the once-hot market begins to freeze the rate hike has brought into question if there will be a potential recession. The Reno, Nevada-based company claims to be the “leader in property valuation management and data solutions”, and works as the middleman for banks, investors and homeowners. Last year, the company bought CubiCasa, a Finland-based floor planning app for iOS and Android for an undisclosed amount. Despite the company’s signs of growth, it was facing declines in customer volume to which Clear Capital cites macroeconomic conditions. Employees laid off explained that the decision was unexpected and caught them by surprise. One source told ZebethMedia they “feel in shambles”. During the meeting, Clear Capital announced it would be closing its Truckee, Calif. office and said there will be no operational staff in its Roseville, Calif. location. Those still employed are expected to return back to in-person work on Oct. 24. Current and former Clear Capital employees can contact Andrew Mendez by e-mail at andrew.mendez@techcrunch.com or on Signal, a secure encrypted messaging app, at 669-832-6800.

Brex, valued at $12.3B earlier this year, lays off 11% of staff as part of restructuring • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in Brex, corporate spend, Fintech, Layoffs, StartupsNo Comments

The startup’s CFO is departing to join Rippling, which recently entered the spend management space Mary Ann Azevedo 12 hours Corporate spend management startup Brex has laid off 136 people, or 11% of its staff, across all departments as part of a restructuring, the company has told ZebethMedia exclusively. After the layoffs, Brex has just over 1,150 employees. It’s been a tumultuous year for Brex, which announced in April that it was leaning into the enterprise segment. That new focus led to the company announcing in June that it would no longer work with small businesses or non professionally funded startups. The latter news caused a bit of an uproar — and some feelings of abandonment — in the startup community, which Brex initially set out to serve. Internally, the move apparently left less of a need for certain internal staff who were focused on serving those SMBs. Brex said it initially tried to “repurpose” as many roles as it could before ultimately deciding it had to let some people go. The layoffs also are evidence that even decacorns are not immune to the challenging macro and fundraising environment that 2022 has brought us. It was exactly nine months ago that Brex confirmed that it had raised $300 million in a Series D-2 round at a $12.3 billion valuation. Greenoaks Capital and TCV co-led that financing, which brought the three-year-old San Francisco-based startup’s total raised to $1.2 billion. Unsurprisingly, Brex cited the challenging macro environment in its decision. In a blog post, co-founder and co-CEO Pedro Franceschi wrote: Late last year we decided to sharpen our focus and serve fewer customers really well. Today’s change is a continuation of this. We’ve been laser-focused on serving early-stage startups and scaled companies this year, and we’re very grateful for the momentum we’ve seen on Empower since we launched in April. While we’re fortunate to be in a strong financial position with many years of runway, the new macro environment is materially different from the first five years of Brex, and warrants a new level of focus and financial discipline. We know the importance that our customers place on Brex’s financial strength, and this change will put us on a path to sustainable profitability over the next few years. Over the summer, Sam Blond left his role as chief revenue officer at Brex to become an investor at Founders Fund. His replacement, Doug Adamic, had over 16 years experience at SAP/Concur — most recently as that company’s chief revenue officer — and is helping drive enterprise sales, according to the company. More recently, sources told ZebethMedia that Adam Swiecicki is stepping down from his role as chief financial officer at Brex, a position he assumed late last year when Michael Tannenbaum took on the position of chief operating officer. He will be joining workforce platform Rippling, which recently entered the spend management space, as CFO. Brex confirmed Swiecicki’s impending move, with co-founder and co-CEO Henrique Dubugras telling ZebethMedia: “We’re happy for Adam in his next role and it’s always great to see our team land with great companies. Rippling is a Brex partner and is focused on the small business market, while Brex has moved upmarket. From our side, Michael Tannenbaum will resume the role of CFO.” Moving forward, Tannenbaum — who began serving as CFO initially in 2017 — will serve in both positions. Swiecicki’s decision to leave is reportedly unrelated to the layoff. In an attempt to soften the blow for the laid-off workers, Brex said the affected employees will receive eight weeks of pay, with an additional two weeks for each complete year of service. For those with less than one year at the company, the startup said it is waiving the equity cliff. And for those with options, it is offering to extend the exercise period to seven years. Impacted workers will have access to current healthcare benefits through the end of the month, and then Brex says it will pay for six months of health insurance. The company says it is also dedicating part of its recruiting team to help those impacted “find new opportunities,” and will prioritize hiring them back “as roles open up over time.” Additionally, Brex is letting all impacted employees keep their computers. Brex started its life focused on providing credit cards aimed mainly at startups and SMBs. It gradually evolved its model with the aim of serving as a one-stop finance shop for these companies before its aforementioned pivot to a focus on enterprise earlier this year. A company spokesperson told ZebethMedia that the company is “getting some really strong signals on Empower,” its new enterprise-focused software offering. Since Empower’s April launch, its monthly active user count has grown 5x month-over-month “on an increasingly large base,” the spokesperson added. It also, the company said, passed $3 billion in annualized processing volume in less than three months of the platform going live. Meanwhile, the spokesperson told ZebethMedia that Brex cash deposits are up 100% year over year, noting that rising interest rates have actually increased the revenue in its deposits business. Brex declined to share hard revenue figures, saying only that “growth — even in this environment — is remaining quite strong.” The company obviously took a big chance by betting on the enterprise space. It will be interesting to see how that bet plays out. Reporter’s note: The story was updated post-publication to clarify that Swiecicki will be joining Rippling as CFO. My weekly fintech newsletter, The Interchange, launched on May 1! Sign up here to get it in your inbox.