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Travel booking website Tripadvisor said it was laying off 900 people as the coronavirus pandemic has chilled travel worldwide.
The layoffs account for about a quarter of Tripadvisor’s global workforce, a spokesperson told FOX Business. The cuts were “necessary and proportionate to the reality we face as a business and as an industry,” he said.
People visit an international terminal at John F. Kennedy airport, Friday, March 13, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC EXPOSES GAPS IN TRAVEL INSURANCE COVERAGE
The Needham, Mass., company is also furloughing some employees, Steve Kaufer, its CEO and co-founder, wrote in an open letter. Tripadvisor is closing its downtown Boston and San Francisco offices permanently.
“Since mid-to-late February, COVID’s impact on the travel industry and our business has slowly revealed itself day by day,” Kaufer wrote. “The pandemic has had an impact on the economy that no one expected.”
Steve Kaufer (File photo)
BOEING OUTLINES TERMS OF VOLUNTARY LAYOFFS, FUTURE OF INDUSTRY
Kaufer had already opted to take no salary for the rest of the year as Tripadvisor executives attempted to cut costs. The company has also halted business travel, ended non-essential spending and paused hiring.
Going ahead, the company plans to reorganize some of its consumer and B2B services under a pair of new executive officers, Lindsay Nelson and Kanika Soni.
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“Our business has endured a lot of change and disruption over the past 20 years,” Kaufer wrote. “While the COVID-19 pandemic’s full impacts remain undetermined, I am confident that our business and the industry will recover. I know that Tripadvisor will play a critical role during the recovery.”
