AM I NEXT? NO LOVE GROUPON

Chicago, Illinois-based Groupon, an e-commerce platform that provides local merchants with discounts to its users via physical and digital coupons, has announced its intention to continue its restructuring to rebuild itself as an "AI-native" company.

The restructuring will affect about 400 employees and contractors and is scheduled for the third quarter.

According to a spokesperson, “These are layoffs across the globe, and they’re operational, and it’s to make sure that we are at the forefront of this. The small businesses we serve will be competing with AI. We need to know not just how to use it ourselves, but also how to show our merchants how to use it as an actual partner. We are not fully replacing our sales team. We are building in AI layers. This is about how work gets done, not headcount targets, and we are redesigning our workflows so AI agents handle operational work end-to-end, and people focus on judgment, strategy, and relationships.”

What they told the SEC, "On May 21, 2026, the Board of Directors of Groupon approved a restructuring plan relating to the Company’s previously announced strategy to rebuild the Company as an AI-native company and better deliver on our mission, serving both customers and merchants. The initial phase of these restructuring actions is expected to include an overall reduction of up to 400 positions globally, including employees and contractors, with a majority of these reductions expected to occur by the end of the third quarter of 2026."

Change is constant, and it's coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life, nor promises of a bright future. We see good people being laid off through no fault of their own. Just because something terrible hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, at any time, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. While many employees can read the writing on the wall, why do most assume it’s targeted at someone else? Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT GROUPON (01/31/23)

JANUARY 31, 2023 — ANOTHER 500 LAYOFFS

The restructuring will continue with another 500 positions targeted by the end of July 2023.

AUGUST 8, 2022 — 500 LAYOFFS FROM RESTRUCTURING

The company has laid off 500 of its employees, including team members in merchant development, sales, recruiting, engineering, product and marketing.

CEO Kedar Deshpande noted, “Our overall business performance is not at the levels we anticipated and we are taking decisive actions to improve our trajectory. The layoffs, as well as a reinvestment in marketing and initiatives that drive customer purchase frequency, will set the company up to generate positive cash flow by the end of 2022.

“Groupon is reducing its North America sales teams to focus on self-service merchant acquisition capabilities. It is also re-organizing the company to focus only on mission-critical activities and leaning on more external support. In addition, we are proposing to reduce cloud infrastructure and support functions as we wrap up cloud migrations. Groupon is also closing its Australia Goods business, more than a decade after launching there in the first place. Finally, Groupon said that it will rationalize its real estate footprint to be more in line with hybrid work.”

Look for more layoffs.

APRIL 21, 2020 — Original post…

Chicago, Illinois-based Groupon, an e-commerce platform for providing discounts for local merchants to its users, has announced its intention to continue its restructuring and expects to lay off or furlough about 2,800 employees globally, approximately 44% of its workforce, through July 2021.

In 2019, the company continued to experience financial difficulties and announced plans to discontinue its online merchandise sales in favor of returning to providing discounts for local services in what the company describes as its "experiences" marketplace. At the time, Groupon also announced its intention to launch a new Groupon app and merchant tools, relaunch its brand, and reduce costs.

In 2020, the company announced a management shakeup that saw a change in senior management.

According to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission...

"The first phase of these restructuring actions is expected to include an overall reduction of approximately 1,400 positions globally, with a majority of these reductions expected to occur by the end of the second quarter 2020 and the remainder by July 2021. This workforce reduction will flatten the organizational structure and includes a consolidation of responsibilities at the Vice President level and higher that will result in lower related executive costs.

The Company plans to begin the next phase of its restructuring actions by the end of the third quarter 2020, and anticipates that such actions will include additional position reductions, facilities exit costs and non-cash impairment charges. “

There is no doubt that the company has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but significant financial difficulties existed prior to the pandemic.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?