Groupon has furloughed "significant portions" of its sales and operations teams as the company deals with the impacts of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
In an email to staff on Monday, which was provided to Chicago Inno, interim CEO Aaron Cooper called the cuts a "necessary decision, but that doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking for all of us."
Cooper continued: "We, like the rest of the world, have been shocked by how fast the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the daily lives of our merchants, our customers and our employees. For a marketplace focused on connecting local merchants and consumers, this has been a particularly significant business challenge..."
The company declined to disclose the specific number of jobs affected. Cooper told employees that the decision comes "with the expectation that we will extend these and other actions, including lay-offs."
The furloughs come less than a month after Groupon announced it would shift away from selling goods and focus more on travel and entertainment experiences. The decision was aimed at cutting costs, but it has proved especially challenging as the country has shut down restaurants, resorts, salons and other types of activities on Groupon's local experiences marketplace.
Last month Groupon also replaced CEO Rich Williams and COO Steve Krenzer.
"We don’t know when the disruption from COVID-19 will end, but when it does, we want to be well-positioned to continue making progress on our local experiences strategy," Cooper said.
