SWFI Daily Layoffs Briefing, April 2, 2020

Posted on 04/02/2020

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Bird

Scooter rental company Bird, which is backed by investors such as Idinvest Partners, Valor Equity Partners, and CDPQ, laid off around 400 employees through a 2-minute online chat through a Zoom webinar last week. Impacted employees were shut out of their corporate-issued computers about 10 minutes after the webinar started.

Thumbtack

Online service directory company Thumbtack terminated 250 employees. In 2019, Thumbtack raised US$ 150 million in an round led by existing investor Sequoia Capital, with participation from current investor Baillie Gifford.

Sephora

Sephora disclosed laying off 3,754 of its U.S. stores’ part-time and seasonal employees. In addition, Sephora stores in the U.S. and Canada will also remain temporarily closed beyond April 3, 2020.

Sungevity

Residential solar company Sungevity laid off hundreds of employees – some 387 employees. Sungevity went bankrupt in 2017 and was renamed Solar Spectrum, only to merge with Horizon Solar Power and then started to operate again under the Sungevity brand name. Horizon Solar Power was a portfolio company of funds managed by the Power Opportunities group of Oaktree Capital Management, L.P.

J.C. Penney

J.C. Penney revealed the majority of its hourly store employees will be furloughed on April 2, 2020. Salaried employees will be furloughed beginning on April 5, 2020.