Etsy Inc. will reduce its headcount by roughly 220 employees, or about 12% of its total workforce, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday. The action is part of a broader restructuring intended to "improve coordination and speed of decision-making," according to the filing.
The job reductions will concentrate largely in product and engineering, Chief Executive Kruti Patel Goyal informed staff in an internal email cited by the company. Patel Goyal emphasized that while the changes will yield cost savings, those savings were not the initiating objective. "Cost savings are a consequence of these changes, but they are not the objective. We didn’t start this work with a cost reduction target or a goal of making Etsy smaller," she said in the message.
Patel Goyal also said the company will continue to invest selectively and hire in areas aligned with its long-term strategy. She described the restructuring as a reconfiguration of skills, ways of working, and capabilities across Etsy to better match evolving tools and business needs.
Employees impacted by the layoff will receive at least 16 weeks of severance pay, with additional amounts tied to tenure. The company will provide continued healthcare support for up to 12 months and other benefits, the filing said.
In addition to the workforce moves, Etsy’s audit committee approved a new stock repurchase program that allows the company to buy back up to an additional $2 billion of its common shares, the SEC filing showed.
The company reported results on Wednesday after the market close.
Context and company rationale
According to the disclosure, the restructuring is intended to accelerate decision-making and improve coordination across teams. Leadership framed the changes as a realignment of resources rather than a straight cost-reduction campaign, and indicated selective hiring will continue in areas deemed important for long-term priorities.
Employee support
Those exiting the company will be offered severance and benefits continuation, with the baseline severance set at 16 weeks and additional payments based on tenure. Healthcare support will be available for up to 12 months, along with other benefits noted in the filing.
Market actions
Separately, the audit committee authorized share repurchases up to $2 billion, expanding the company’s capacity to return capital to shareholders through open-market purchases over time, as described in the SEC filing.
Note: The company announced its most recent quarterly results on Wednesday after markets closed.