A
smartphone
with
an
Instacart
logo
displayed
is
seen
in
this
illustration
taken
March
25,
2022.
Dado
Ruvic
|
Reuters
Instacart
on
Tuesday
announced
it
would
lay
off
about
250
employees,
or
roughly
7%
of
the
company,
as
part
of
a
restructuring.
The
news
came
as
the
company
reported
fourth-quarter
earnings
that
fell
roughly
in
line
with
analysts’
revenue
estimates.
Shares
of
the
company
fell
5%
in
extended
trading.
The
layoffs
are
focused
in
part
on
middle
management
and
creating
a
flatter
organizational
structure,
according
to
Instacart,
as
well
as
focusing
teams
on
larger
projects,
such
as
advertising
efforts
on
Roku,
Google
Ads
and
more.
Three
top
executives
are
also
departing
the
company
for
personal
reasons,
according
to
Instacart:
Chief
Operating
Officer
Asha
Sharma,
Chief
Technology
Officer
Varouj
Chitilian
and
chief
architect
JJ
Zhuang.
Instacart
will
only
backfill
the
CTO
role.
The
company
posted
fourth-quarter
revenue
of
$803
million,
roughly
in
line
with
the
$804
million
that
Wall
Street
expected,
according
to
analyst
estimates
from
LSEG,
formerly
known
as
Refinitiv.
In
September,
Instacart
went
public
in
one
of
the
first
significant
venture-backed
tech
IPOs
since
December
2021.
In
its
prospectus,
the
company
said
it
would
focus
on
incorporating
artificial
intelligence
and
machine
learning
features
into
the
platform,
and
that
it
expected
to
rely
on
those
features
to
“drive
future
growth
in
our
business.”
Instacart
shoppers
and
drivers
deliver
goods
in
more
than
5,500
cities
from
more
than
85,000
grocers
and
other
stores,
according
to
its
website.
The
business
took
off
during
the
Covid-19
pandemic
as
consumers
avoided
public
places.
But
profitability
has
always
been
a
significant
challenge,
as
it
can
be
with
much
of
the
gig
economy,
due
to
high
costs
associated
with
contractor
payouts.
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