Carousell was founded in 2012, backed by Sequoia Capital India, Naver, 500 Global, and Rakuten Capital, and has raised a total of $372.6 million since its inception. Carousell, a Singaporean consumer-to-consumer (C2C) service brand operating across Southeast Asia is laying off 110 employees (10% of its total headcount). It is true that for the tech industry this time is laborious and reducing costs is the need of the hour.
Carousell has not mentioned yet which business units or regional offices would be affected by layoffs. The Singapore-headquartered company operates in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The announcement came from Carousell’s blog on Thursday, posted by co-founder and CEO of Carousell Siu Rui Quek, saying, “I take responsibility for the decisions that have led us here. Parting with teammates, whom we are grateful to for joining us on this mission, is a very difficult decision.”
In the statement, the company’s leaders had discussed finding ways, including moving to an inexpensive rental office and slashing co-founders and executives’ salaries voluntarily to save budgets without cutting staff. But that was “far from enough,” it said.
Quek also explained in the blog post that he “was too optimistic” about their recovery from the COVID pandemic and even doubled down on recruitment and investment for its business. “The reality is that we were quick to grow our expenses and hire, but the returns took longer than expected,” Quek wrote. “It is important to act swiftly, course correct, and right-size our investment levels to better align with this new reality.”
The affected employees will receive at least three months’ salary and can take the perks of their medical benefits and insurance coverage through June next year. According to the statement, the company will also pay out all remaining time off balances and offer career counseling and job search support, letting those laid-off workers keep their office laptop and LinkedIn Learning membership until June 2023.
- Published By Team Hongkong Journalist
