Struggling Deals Site LivingSocial Kills Events Group, Closes New York Office
The move eliminates 30 full-time positions and will have remaining staffers working remotely.
By Benjamin Kabin •
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Discount-of-the-day site LivingSocial is closing its Fifth Avenue office in New York City and eliminating its local events division, leaving 30 full-time staffers without jobs.
Remaining New York staffers in its sales and advertising department have been asked to work from home. Once all local events in New York are completed by Oct. 1, the company plans to lay off dozens of part-time employees.
The news, confirmed by TheNextWeb, comes less than a month after the company shuttered its Seattle office, where it also asked displaced employees to work remotely.
The deals site stressed that these changes are not part of a cost-cutting effort but "a decision geared towards achieving profitability." LivingSocial said that larger events have been more lucrative than the niche ones offered by the local-events division. Meanwhile, the company said it plans to create 50 new jobs for its call center in Tucson, Ariz.
Last November, LivingSocial laid off 400 employees, mostly in the U.S., in an effort to "streamline" its sales and editorial departments. Groupon, another big daily discount site, saw massive layoffs in 2012 as well, cutting 648 jobs over a six-month period.
