Kickstarter is laying off 18% of its "UNIONIZED" workforce as crowdfunding projects plummet during the pandemic

Tyler Sonnemaker
BUSINESS INSIDER MAY 13, 2020

Crowdfunding platform Kickstarter has laid off a significant part of its workforce due to COVID-19. Hollis Johnson

Kickstarter has laid off 25 employees, around 18% of its workforce, according to a regulatory notice filed last week. 

CEO Aziz Hasan told employees in April that layoffs were likely as the crowdfunding website saw projects drop 35% from a year prior with "no clear sign of rebound," according to The Verge. 

Employees, who unionized in February, will receive several months' pay and healthcare coverage as well as a chance to reclaim their job if Kickstarter brings it back within a year as part of an earlier severance deal reached with the union. 

The company becomes the lastest venture-backed startup in recent weeks to announce sweeping layoffs. 

Kickstarter is laying off 25 employees, nearly 18% of its 140-person workforce, due to the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, according to a notice filed with New York's labor department last week.

The notice indicates the layoffs will go into effect starting Friday, citing "unforeseeable business circumstances prompted by COVID-19."

In April, CEO Aziz Hasan told employees in an internal memo that the crowdfunding platform had seen projects drop by 35% from the same time a year earlier and, despite having taken several cost-cutting measures already, that it was considering layoffs, The Verge reported.

As part of a deal reached earlier in May between Kickstarter's union and the company, employees being let go will receive a severance package that includes: four months' pay, four months of healthcare coverage for employees who make more than $110,001 and six months for those making that amount or less, termination of their non-compete agreements, and a chance to reclaim their job (or a similar one) if Kickstarter brings it back within a year.

Kickstarter employees in February became the first full-time tech workers to unionize as more across the industry look to organize, becoming members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union.

DO I NEED TO POINT OUT THAT THIS IS A UNION ADVANTAGE NON UNION WORKERS DO NOT GET...WELL I DID.... 

Kickstarter is the latest in a string of venture-backed startups to announce sweeping layoffs after seeing business slow due to the coronavirus pandemic. Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb have all cut significant amounts of their workforces in recent weeks.

Kickstarter did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.