Wayfair Layoffs: Why Is The Home Goods Retailer Cutting Jobs?

Wayfair (W) has reportedly laid off about 500 employees from its Boston headquarters and global offices. The internet retailer has more than 17,000 employees worldwide and is one of the largest employers in Massachusetts, with 4,000 workers at its corporate headquarters.

According to the Boston Business Journal, the layoffs account for about 3% of the company’s staff. Employees were reportedly notified on Thursday, with 350 workers let go from the corporate headquarters. It was unclear at the time of writing what positions were affected by the job cuts.

"To position the organization to take advantage of the opportunity ahead, we continually evaluate the needs of the business and work to increase efficiencies while aligning our teams with the initiatives that drive the greatest impact for our customers," Jane Carpenter, global head of corporate communications at Wayfair told the news outlet.

"As part of that process, we have made some organizational changes,” she added.

Wayfair has grown quickly over its 18-year history, experiencing growing pains along the way, the Boston Business Journal said. Wayfair reported net losses of $272 million in the last quarter, which was more than double its losses from Q4 a year earlier.

Shares of Wayfair stock were down 9.96% as of 2:19 p.m. EST on Thursday.