FabFitFun Lays Off 100 Staffers, Membership Subscription Company Shuts Down Live TV Production Team (EXCLUSIVE)
Click here to read the full article.
UPDATED: FabFitFun has laid off around 100 employees, or 18% of the subscription-membership merchandise and media company’s headcount, Variety has learned.
As part of the cutbacks, coming after a period of a massive ramp-up in hiring by venture-backed FabFitFun, the company has eliminated the live TV production team that produced the “FabFitFun Live” show on Facebook.
A rep for L.A.-based FabFitFun confirmed the company conducted layoffs but declined to confirm how many employees were let go. Sources familiar with the cuts said they primarily affected the premium TV-style programming team and the group running FabFitFun Style, a personalized fashion-styling service for members.
Asked for comment, the FabFitFun rep sent Variety an internal memo to company staff Thursday from its three co-founders, co-CEOs and brothers Daniel and Michael Broukhim and editor-in-chief Katie Rosen Kitchens.
The trio wrote that “after several years of rapid growth, we are at a point where we need to sharpen our focus on the areas that drive the most value. As part of this effort, we’ve made the decision to pull back certain initiatives and streamline our core business efforts. As a result, we’ve had to make the extremely difficult decision to reduce the size of our team.”
The FabFitFun founders also wrote in the memo, “This decision wasn’t made lightly and we are very grateful for the contributions that these departing individuals have made to our team and community.” In addition to severance packages, the company is offering outplacement services to laid-off employees.
The flagship product for the women’s ecommerce and lifestyle company, which claims to have more than 1 million members worldwide, is the FabFitFun Box, a curated collection of products across beauty, fashion, wellness, fitness, home and technology categories delivered four times per year. It’s priced at $50 per season or $180 per year.
Other membership perks include access to FabFitFunTV, a streaming video service includes on-demand wellness videos and daily lifestyle content; exclusive sales and shopping experiences; and access to celebrity/influencer networks and curated product events. The company sells a membership plan for $80 per year that doesn’t include the FabFitFun merchandise box.
FabFitFun was founded in 2010 by the Broukhims and Rosen Kitchens, initially starting out as a newsletter and blog.
In January 2019, FabFitFun announced $80 million in Series A funding led by Silicon Valley VC firm Kleiner Perkins, with participation from existing investors NEA and Upfront Ventures.
Last month, the company announced the hire of Louisa Wee, previously Netflix’s VP of marketing strategy and analysis and programmatic media buying, as its first chief marketing officer.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
