Groupon shedding 1,100 jobs and pulling out of 7 countries

Groupon, the discount e-commerce marketplace, announced that it is shedding 1,100 jobs and ceasing operations in seven markets internationally.

The decision was made to help streamline business operations.

Groupon COO Rich Williams wrote in a blog post Tuesday that the job cuts will primarily be in the company’s international Deal Factory and Customer Service areas.

The company also said that it has made an “honest look” at where it does business.

It said that the investment necessary to bring its tech, tools, and marketplace to every one of its 40+ countries “isn’t commensurate with the return at this point.”

The company recently pulled out of Greece and Turkey and it is now ceasing operations in Morocco, Panama, The Philippines, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay as well.

Rich Williams said: “We believe that in order for our geographic footprint to be an even bigger advantage, we need to focus our energy and dollars on fewer countries,”

“Evolution is hard, but it’s a necessary part of our journey. It’s also part of our DNA as a company and is one of the things that will help us realize our vision of creating the daily habit in local commerce.”

He added:

“While this is a lot of change, here’s what’s not changing: Our mission to connect local commerce; our commitment to delivering great deals to our customers and real value to our merchants and our belief that Groupon is a unique and amazing place to work.

Many analysts expected the site’s popularity to eventually dwindle and pointed out its unsustainable business model because of the company’s contentious relationship with merchants.