Fab.com cuts 100 Berlin jobs in strategy shift

By

Lauren Walker

Published
Jul 31, 2013

Chief executive officer at the online retailer Jack Goldberg announced via a blog post that Fab.com will be laying off 100 staff members at its German headquarters in Berlin as it adjusts its business operating model. Goldberg has said that the company has asked 30 staff members from its Berlin head office to make the move to the New York office, where the company plans to consolidate much of its merchandising, marketing and operations teams into a single global team.

Starting life as a flash-sales website, Fab.com is turning towards an inventory-planning model in a strategic move that will help the online retailer to cope with its growing global customer base – the nature of flash-sales dictating a lack of inventory and thus makes it difficult to provide quick and free shipping on a large scale.

In the post, Goldberg: “This decision is personally painful but strategically sound and, critically, not a result of any financial difficulties or a change in commitment to Berlin, Germany, the U.K., the broader EU or our overall growth.”

Last month the company announced a $150 million investment – which includes funding from China’s largest gaming and social media company, Tencent Holdings. Fab.com is valued at $1 billion.


Lauren Walker