The Financial Post reports in its Thursday, Jan. 19, edition that Lightspeed Commerce is cutting staff by 10 per cent, as economic headwinds forced chief executive officer Jean-Paul Chauvet to renege on a boast that he would take advantage of layoffs at other tech companies to staff up.
The Post's Marisa Coulton writes that Lightspeed on Tuesday described the decision to cut 300 jobs as the "next deliberate step in executing Lightspeed's strategy to unify all of its acquired companies and products." In a note to staff, Mr. Chauvet said the announcement was the "most challenging day we've ever had at Lightspeed."
Lightspeed acquired several rivals in recent years, most recently NUORDER, a B2B e-commerce company, and Ecwid, which enables small business owners to set up on-line stores. The company had 3,000 employees at the end of March. Mr. Chauvet told staff that Lightspeed had become "too complex, with overlapping roles and a top-heavy framework" that was weighing the company down and creating inefficiencies. He said that for a while it "really did feel possible" to maintain staffing levels even after the series of acquisitions. He calls the economy a "catalyst" for the restructuring.
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