Layoffs Raze FourKites and Etsy; Zulily Cuts Jobs Heading into Holiday

Glenn Taylor
·4 min read

Supply chain visibility platform FourKites is laying off 15 percent of its workforce one month after the departure of its president and an executive shakeup.

The cuts are the latest in a string of layoffs at logistics tech companies this year, with Convoy ceasing operations and firms including Freightos, Project44 and Flexe just some of those slashing headcount. Flexport had two sets of mass layoffs this year as it works to squeeze out a profit.

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FourKites, valued at $1 billion in 2022, experienced challenges similar to its peers over the past year, including an industrywide freight recession and a lack of venture funding.

“With these changes in place, along with the recent realignment of our leadership team, we are accelerating our timeline to profitability, taking our burn rate to zero—now—and reducing our reliance on capital markets,” a FourKites spokesperson said.

FourKites would not comment on individual departures or which types of jobs were affected.

President Rocky Subramanian left the company in November just seven months after starting in the role, while former president Sean Fallon returned as chief strategy officer. A new president has not been named.

Etsy cuts 11 percent of workforce as sales ‘essentially flat’ since 2021

Etsy is laying off nearly 225 employees, affecting 11 percent of the company workforce, according to a post written by CEO Josh Silverman.

The online marketplace, which offers apparel, jewelry, handmade goods, vintage items and craft supplies from independent sellers, got a big boost when e-commerce surged during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Silverman said that the Etsy marketplace is still more than double the size it was in 2019, but that gross merchandise sales have been “essentially flat” since 2021.

“This means we are not bringing our sellers more sales, which is the single most important thing we can do for them,” Silverman said. “At the same time, employee expenses have grown, even as we have introduced significant cost-cutting measures and adjusted or paused hiring plans. This is ultimately not a sustainable trajectory and we must change it.”

All impacted workers will remain on Etsy payroll until at least Jan. 2, 2024, and will have 16 weeks of severance pay and 12 months of healthcare coverage.

Some Zulily layoffs come earlier than expected

Though it already announced roughly 800 job cuts this month as part of its liquidation, Zulily is reportedly accelerating the layoffs earlier than anticipated, according to Geekwire.

Zulily’s layoffs largely came out of two distribution centers it is closing, with 273 people losing their jobs in McCarran, Nev. and another 274 getting cut in Lockbourne, Ohio. These cuts were initially slated for Feb. 7 at the earliest, along with termination of 292 positions in Seattle, where the company is headquartered.

But according to an internal message to some employees, the termination day was moved up to Tuesday.

It is unclear how many employees had their termination dates expedited. Zulily’s health insurance plans will cease effective Dec. 31 for these employees, according to the memo. There is no mention of severance.

Sourcing Journal reached out to Zulily parent Regent.

GM’s AV wing Cruise axes 24 percent of staff

On the autonomous vehicle front, General Motors’ Cruise robotaxi unit is laying off 900 people, or 24 percent of its workforce.

The company recently dismissed nine executives weeks after it had to pull all its vehicles from testing in the U.S. The recall came after an Oct. 2 incident in which a woman was struck and dragged by a vehicle. CEO Kyle Vogt and co-founder Dan Kan both resigned in recent weeks. A safety investigation is ongoing.

Amazon delivery partner lays off 150+ in facility shutdown

Layoffs are also hitting another logistics company, SPS Ventures Inc. (SPSV), as the last-mile logistics provider shuts down a St. Louis-area facility.

Some 152 employees at a facility in Maryland Heights, Mo. are losing their jobs, the company said in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notice.

The SPSV employees will be laid off Feb. 3, 2024, and the closure is expected to be permanent, officials said in a letter dated Dec. 5. Of the affected employees, 150 are delivery associates and two are operations managers, according to the filing.

SPSV, which is an Amazon Delivery Service Partner, is based in Santa Clarita, Calif., but also operates in Arizona, Colorado and Illinois.

Amazon seller partner blames layoffs on ‘market forces’

Another Amazon-related company, Jungle Scout, has laid off an unconfirmed number of employees.

Jungle Scout, based in Austin, Texas, is a platform that helps entrepreneurs set up and operate third-party seller accounts on Amazon. Sellers use the software to optimize product listings, identify profitable products and project sales across the Amazon marketplace.

Elise Stribos, chief people officer at Jungle Scout, wrote a recent LinkedIn post confirming the layoffs.

“With the market forces in play, we recognized that we need to narrow our focus to what we’re great at, and what we’re known for,” Stribos said.

Stribos’ post listed 16 employees who were being terminated, calling on other businesses to consider hiring them. The employees who opted to share their details work in several roles, including software engineering, customer support, paid search and UX design.

Sourcing Journal reached out to Jungle Scout for comment.