• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

3

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster

1

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

2

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

3

Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
TechEtsy

Exclusive: Etsy Is Reorganizing Its Workforce, Which Includes More Layoffs

By
Rachel King
Rachel King
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Rachel King
Rachel King
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 21, 2017, 9:10 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Etsy is reorganizing behind-the-scenes, which includes another reduction of 15% to its global workforce.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based business counted approximately 1,000 employees at the end of 2016, and had previously announced a headcount reduction earlier this year. All in all, Etsy’s workforce will be cut by 22% this year, or approximately 230 people. Cuts were made across the organization with the intention of streamlining middle management and senior levels, according to Etsy. Many of reductions affected product management, marketing, and administrative roles.

Etsy’s new CEO Josh Silverman tells Fortune exclusively that these changes are about realigning resources around the “fewest, most impactful areas where we need to succeed” with a cleaner organizational structure, less bureaucracy, and more focus on growth. “While there are often talented people in those roles, it slows us down,” Silverman says.

Etsy said it expects to incur employee severance charges and other exit costs of between $6 million and $8.8 million related to the latest round of layoffs on top of the $6.5 million to $8 million of severance charges and other charges expected for the reductions announced in May.

While Silverman acknowledges that there will be long-term cost savings as a result of the headcount reduction, he stresses that wasn’t the objective. “This puts us at our fighting weight,” he says.

Etsy is enduring a tumultuous period, and shares have fallen off by as much as 30% since its initial public offering two years ago. For the first quarter of 2017, the marketplace reported a loss of $421,000 after earning $1.2 million a year ago. One of its shareholders—Black-and-White Capital, which owns 2% of the company—then called for Etsy to explore a sale as well as separate the roles of chairman and CEO.

Black-and-White, according to Reuters at the time, said growth in Etsy’s gross merchandise sales (a.k.a. GMS, or the dollar value of items sold in its online marketplace) had slowed due to problems with its search algorithm.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter

Chad Dickerson quickly stepped down as Etsy’s CEO, succeeded by board member Silverman. Fred Wilson, a director on Etsy’s board since 2007, assumed the chairmanship.

In his first interview since assuming the top job five weeks ago, Silverman tells Fortune that the restructuring is about doubling down around areas focused on creating the best buying experience on Etsy.com.

Etsy counted approximately 1.8 million active sellers and 29.7 million active buyers as of March 31, 2017—up from 1.6 million sellers and 25 million buyers the same quarter the year prior. Etsy is also seeing incremental but noticeable GMS growth both on mobile and internationally. Mobile GMS climbed to 51% of sales in Q1 2017 year-over-year, and international GMS grew from 30.3% to 32.1% over the same timeframe.

“We’re doubling down on core international markets, where we’re still in the early stages of our market opportunity,” Silverman says. Etsy’s biggest markets outside of the United States include the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, and Germany. Most of the aforementioned layoffs concern the Brooklyn headquarters, but Etsy’s global offices will be affected as well. As Silverman explains, many product and marketing opportunities can be done from centralized offices, so Etsy is reducing the number of “feet on the street doing primarily guerrilla marketing.”
As with every company these days—tech or not—mobile is a key part of the long-term strategy, and Etsy is no different. “We need to meet our buyers where they are. Where they are is increasingly mobile,” Silverman says. “We didn’t make a mobile organization separately because mobile is the organization.”

One recent project that might serve as an example of a distraction from Etsy’s core mission: Etsy Studio, a new wing of the digital marketplace introduced this past February, catering to craft suppliers and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practitioners. The project aimed to woo customers into staying around longer through its own DIY tutorials developed in-house while enticing them to buy the products on the same page as the lesson.

Etsy stressed this market’s value when Studio debuted, highlighting the craft supply market is worth approximately $44 billion in the U.S. alone, according to a 2016 study from the Association of Creative Industries.

“I think the craft marketplace is a great marketplace for us,” Silverman says. “But the investment to create a new top-level domain is very significant, and we’ve only begun just to tap the core Etsy.com market. So we reallocated resources back to Etsy.com so it can achieve full potential.”

But it’s not the end of Etsy Studio or similar projects as Silverman says the company will reevaluate over the next several months if separate branches like Studio contribute to the brand.

“We think the opportunity ahead is tremendous. It’s even more vital today than before,” Silverman says. “Automation is impacting every part of our society, but creativity cannot be automated.”
About the Author
By Rachel King
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
How foodservice giant Sodexo is embracing AI and robotics to reshape the kitchen
By John KellJuly 1, 2026
4 hours ago
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIAnthropic
Anthropic’s AI models are back online after a two-week government standoff—settling the company and administration into a fragile truce
By Tristan BoveJuly 1, 2026
5 hours ago
Nikesh Arora, chief executive officer at Palo Alto Networks
SuccessJobs
CEO of $248 billion cybersecurity company says workers are about to face a ‘Darwinian moment’ thanks to AI: Evolve or get cut
By Emma BurleighJuly 1, 2026
6 hours ago
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
Personal FinanceEthereum
Current price of Ethereum for July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
8 hours ago
In this photo illustration, a Cisco logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intellingence (AI) symbols in the background.
AICFO Daily
Cisco is rolling out AI agents to every single one of its 90,000 employees
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 1, 2026
9 hours ago
senate
CommentaryCongress
One rare bipartisan AI bill is moving through Congress. Here’s why it deserves to pass
By Neil Björkman and Betsy BrewerJuly 1, 2026
10 hours ago

Most Popular

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
14 hours ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
4 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
2 days ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
12 hours ago
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
Commentary
The U.S. Army is opening military bases to private billions — here's why that changes everything for the next 250 years
By Marc AndersenJune 30, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.