COVID-19: Global Layoff Bulletin: 04/17/2020
Posted on 04/17/2020
Opendoor
San Francisco-based Opendoor is backed by SoftBank Group Corporation through the Vision Fund. Opendoor laid off around 35% of its employees, or around 600 people.
SoftBank-backed Opendoor has announced a massive layoff, cutting 35% of its employees
According to a statement sent to us by co-founder and CEO Eric Wu,
The Information was first to report the news today.
Home sales haven’t fallen as far or as fast as one might imagine, though that picture is changing as the weeks wear on.
According to Realtor.com,
the number of U.S. homes for sale declined 15.7% year-over-year in the month of March, with the number of newly listed properties falling by 13.1% the week ending March 21 and by 34.0% for the week ending March 28.
TechCrunch
Cantor Fitzgerald
Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which is managed by Howard Lutnick, is shedding hundreds of jobs to cut costs. This will result is cuts of less than 5% of its overall employee base of around 12,000 people.
True Religion
Denim brand and retailer True Religion filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Founded in 2002, the company struggled before the COVID-19 pandemic and this is the second time True Religion has gone bankrupt in the last three years. Vernon, California-based True Religion is seeking new financing and hopes for a court order to permit the firm to skip rent for 60 days. True Religion has around 100 stores in the United States
Ashley Stewart Holdings
Retailer Ashley Stewart Holdings, Inc. will keep stores closed until at least April 5, 2020. At one point, the company borrowed from Monroe Capital Private Credit Fund II LP.
GoPro
GoPro Inc. seeks to terminate more than 20% of its remaining staff and cut out retailers from its sales. GoPro ended 2019 with 926 employees.
Frontier Communications
High-speed internet company Frontier Communications filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on April 14, 2020. Frontier Communications seeks to restructure its debt load which is more than US$ 10 billion. Frontier Communications received US$ 460 million in debtor-in-possession financing and plans to sell of assets in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to Kirkland-based Northwest Fiber, LLC. Northwest Fiber, LLC plans to have the service called Ziply Fiber and is getting these assets in the northwest region for around US$ 1.35 billion. WaveDivision Capital, an investment company operated by the founder of Wave Broadband and several former executives, partnered with Searchlight Capital Partners to make the deal.SWFI
https://www.swfinstitute.org/news/78968/swfi-daily-layoffs-briefing-april-17-2020