Lightspeed cuts 250 roles in layoffs, unfilled jobs

Montreal-based software company Lightspeed Commerce Inc. said Tuesday that 250 roles will be affected by a round of cuts that combines layoffs with vacancies it will not fill.

The company said the changes are meant to simplify its operations and free up resources to reinvest in customer growth and product innovation, The Canadian Press reported.

Spokesperson Stéphanie Princivil did not say which areas of the business are affected. She said in an email that more information will come with the company’s quarterly earnings report next month.

Lightspeed also did not say how many of the 250 roles are layoffs and how many are open positions that have been closed, BetaKit reported. The company called the moves “organizational changes” and said they support “growing responsibly and profitably.”

BetaKit reported that former Lightspeed employees in content and sales roles posted on LinkedIn last week that they had been laid off. The company confirmed the cuts by email after those posts appeared.

Lightspeed is scheduled to report fiscal second-quarter earnings on Nov. 5, when it has said it will share more about the changes.

The announcement is the latest in a series of staffing reductions at the company since founder and chief executive Dax Dasilva returned to the top job. BetaKit reported that Lightspeed cut roughly 100 jobs earlier this year to find efficiencies, according to Dasilva, who spoke to the outlet in July.

Lightspeed had about 2,000 employees at the time of its earlier rounds of cuts, BetaKit reported. Neither outlet gave a current headcount, so the share of the workforce affected by the latest round cannot be calculated from the published reports.

The company has also been reshaping its business. In March, it divested a hospitality business unit in the United States, BetaKit reported, and Dasilva has told The Globe and Mail that the company is open to more divestitures. Lightspeed sold Upserve, its restaurant management software business, and has said it will focus on its North American retail and European hospitality divisions.

A review aimed at increasing shareholder value ended last year without a deal to take the company private, The Canadian Press reported.

Lightspeed sells point-of-sale and commerce software to retailers and restaurants. It was founded in 2005. BetaKit reported that its shares peaked at $159 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in September 2021, fell to about a third of that within three months, and now trade near $15.

The company has not said whether the cuts will affect its Montreal head office or its offices elsewhere. It has also not said whether severance terms differ by region, and it has not commented on the cost of the restructuring. Those details may come when the company reports results on Nov. 5.

Developing: the figures above come from the company’s statements as relayed by The Canadian Press and BetaKit, and Lightspeed has not published a detailed breakdown.

Via The Canadian Press (original report) and BetaKit.

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