LivingSocial Cuts 400 U.S. Jobs

The online deals company LivingSocial recently laid off 400 workers, which makes up around 10 percent of its global workforce. Reuters reported that the majority of those laid off worked in sales or customer service positions for LivingSocial’s U.S. operations.

“After two years of hyper-growth in which the company went from 450 to 4500 employees worldwide, these moves will align our cost structure with our 2013 plan and free up resources for critical investments in marketing, mobile, and other areas,” said Andrew Weinstein, LivingSocial’s head of communications, when speaking with VentureBeat.

According to the news organization, a “couple dozen” International workers also received pink slips. LivingSocial said the U.S. cuts stemmed from its decision to relocate its customer and merchant solutions team from Washington D.C. to a call center in Tucson, Ariz.

The pre-holiday staff cuts come during a painful time for the online deals market. Major online deals leader Groupon’s shares lost almost one-third of their value after the company reported slow growth in its third-quarter revenue.