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LivingSocial Lays Off 160 D.C. Employees

By: Chris Chester // November 29, 2012
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LivingSocial began as D.C. startup and employed as many as 4,000 before this recent round of layoffs.
Danny Lee: http://www.flickr.com/photos/delee928/6848788574/
LivingSocial began as D.C. startup and employed as many as 4,000 before this recent round of layoffs.

The D.C.-based online daily deals company LivingSocial has confirmed that it is laying off 400 members of staff, including as many as 160 in the District, according to a report from the Washington Business Journal.

Employees in the customer service department are being hit the hardest in the District as LivingSocial shifts many of those jobs to a new call center in Arizona.

In an email to employees obtained by the Washington City Paper, LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy described the cuts as the result of "a top-to-bottom review of all our operations, products, and opportunities." He says they will enable the company to "enter 2013 with a growth strategy and cost structure that is aligned for success in the coming year and beyond."

The layoffs could complicate the $32.5 million tax break deal the company struck with the D.C. Council in June. The deal was contingent on LivingSocial moving into a consolidated 200,000 square foot District headquarters in 2016 and maintaining operations there through 2025. It also included a clause stipulating that the company employ as many as 1,000 D.C. employees.

The LivingSocial deal was pitched as part of Mayor Gray's push to attract technology companies to the District.

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