Tech Crunch
Citing Economic turbulance, buy now, pay later giant Affirm announced today that it is reducing its staff by 19%, or about 500 employees, and shutting down its crypto unit.
That leaves the company with about 2,000 employees.
In a written statement, founder and CEO Max Levchin said that he takes “full responsibility for this decision and for those leading up to it.” The company did not specify which departments would be affected by the move.
Moving forward, Levchin said, the company will “refocus” on its core businesses and pace its headcount growth “behind that of revenue.”
He added: “Our goals remain very ambitious: Remain firmly in control of risk, grow both volume and revenue, and engage our consumers to continue increasing repeat usage, both online and offline. Moving forward, we will launch new initiatives with more discipline, greenlighting only high-conviction, long-term bets.”
With regard to its crypto offering, Levchin wrote in a letter to shareholders that Affirm would “sunset” the unit as the company also delayed projects with “less certain revenue timelines” as it worked to “align operating expenses with revenue.”
Affirm today also posted its second quarter results for the 2023 fiscal year. GMV (gross merchandise volume) of $5.7 billion set a new record but still fell short of an outlook that Affirm itself had provided in November.