Seattle-based tax software company Avalara has conducted layoffs, according to numerous LinkedIn posts from former employees.
The layoffs come just months after Avalara was acquired by Austin, Texas-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners in an $8.4 billion deal that took the company private and off the New York Stock Exchange.
Details about the layoffs, including the number of employees affected, were not immediately available. Avalara didn't respond to requests for comment.
The company has about 4,250 employees listed on LinkedIn.
"We thank our employees, customers, partners and shareholders for their trust during this process, and we are excited to begin our work alongside Vista,” Scott McFarlane, co-founder and CEO of Avalara, said in a release when the acquisition closed in October. “We look forward to partnering with their experienced team to advance our mission.”
Avalara faced opposition to the Vista Equity deal from individual shareholders and shareholder firms. Multiple individual shareholders filed lawsuits that, among other claims, said the deal benefits Avalara leadership and overlooks individual shareholders, and different shareholder firms said they opposed the deal and planned to vote against it.
Avalara, for its part, released a presentation in September to convince shareholders to approve the deal, citing predicted negative outcomes ifdeal, first announced in August, didn't close. The company also noted a third-party proxy advisory firm report from September that pointed to the company's "expected underperformance" as a major reason to sell. Two-thirds of Avalara's total outstanding shares voted in favor of the deal in October.
Avalara, founded in 2004, went public in 2018. The company's technology helps with sales and use tax, consumer use tax and international compliance. Its clients include Zillow and Netflix.
Vista Equity is no stranger to Seattle-area tech companies. The firm acquired Bellevue-based tech spending software company Apptio for $1.94 billion in a deal that closed in 2019, which took the company private. Apptio had gone public in 2016.
Avalara is among a number of local tech companies to have laid off employees recently. Microsoft, for example, on Wednesday said it will cut about 10,000 jobs by March 30. Bellevue-based contract management company Icertis, meanwhile, on Wednesday confirmed it was reducing its workforce but didn't give specifics.
