Shares of Wayfair Inc. rose. rose 15.9% in pre-market trading on Friday after the home goods retailer announced a workforce reduction of approximately 1,650 employees. The reductions represent approximately 13% of the company's global workforce and approximately 19% of the company's team as of December 31, 2023.
In a statement issued early Friday, Wayfair W,
It said its workforce reorganization plan is expected to achieve annual cost savings of more than $280 million.
Related: Macy's will lay off 13% of the company's employees and close five stores, as more retailers attack margin concerns with technology.
“Although today’s actions will strengthen our adjusted EBITDA roadmap, I am increasingly focused on achieving adjusted EBITDA,” Neeraj Shah, Wayfair’s CEO, said in the statement. “Beyond stock-based compensation plus capital expenditures, I intend to make meaningful improvements here quickly.” . “We believe what matters is maximizing our free cash flow while simultaneously tightly controlling and ultimately minimizing our total share count, and we treat this as our north star.”
Layoffs in the retail sector are in the spotlight right now. Messi M Company,
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the company plans to cut 2,350 jobs and close five stores. The report said the cuts amount to about 13% of the supermarket chain's employees and 3.5% of the company's total workforce, excluding seasonal hires.
Related: Wayfair stock falls as revenue declines despite smaller-than-expected loss
A Macy's spokesperson told MarketWatch on Thursday that the store closings were part of an effort to “reposition our store portfolio and evaluate the right mix of on- and off-mall locations.” The spokesman added that the five stores will close this year. Macy's had 784 stores as of October 28, including the retailer's namesake locations as well as Bloomingdales locations, which Macy's owns. Macy's shares rose 0.4% in premarket trading on Friday.
Wayfair shares are up 8.8% in the past 52 weeks, while Macy's shares are down 21.2%, compared with the S&P 500's SPX gain of 22.6%.
Bill Peters contributed.
