US: Airbnb backed corporate housing start-up Zeus living has announced a second round of layoffs, releasing an addition 76 staff members.
This follows news of the company’s most recent funding round, where it’s valuation dropped by half.
The company was one of many to make immediate redundancy decisions in late March, laying off 80 in response to the pandemic. According to Business Insider, this new round cuts about 50 per cent of remaining staff.
The company’s CEO, Kulveer Taggar, announced the layoffs in a blog post, citing declining revenues and a lack of CORE homes in their portfolio. The layoffs will eliminate certain teams within the company in their entirety.
Taggar said in his blog post: “This is a decision I hoped we wouldn’t have to make, and is not how I wanted us to part ways. Zeus has been built not by the founders but by the sheer will, determination, and grit of remarkable people I care about and call my friends.”
The company has also made the decision to return the PPP loan it had previously applied for as it will not be paying as many salaries. Zeus Living will be providing a strong severance package, including laptops, vacation days, and a month of health insurance.
Zeus, a company providing furnished apartments for business travellers, as struggled to find funds during the global crisis. A story last week reported that Zeus would not be paying rent for April and May, and requesting swaps to revenue share agreements.
It is also not alone laying off staff during this time. Airbnb recently announced a 25 per cent layoff throughout the company, while a Zeus competitor, Sonder, announced cuts to a third of its workforce in March.
The company did, however, receive a round of funding recently, with $15 million coming from Initialized Capital Management and Soros Fund Management. The company’s valuation dropped by half during this round, falling to $110 million.
