Birchbox Cuts About 12% of Staff

Online beauty startup Birchbox Inc. is parting ways with several senior executives and cutting about 12% of its staff, the second round of layoffs this year, as the company struggles with increased competition and a difficult funding market.

The New York-based company on Tuesday dismissed about 30 of its 250 employees, according to people familiar with the matter. In January, the company laid off about 50 workers.

Recent departures include some senior executives, including co-founder Mollie Chen, chief technology officer Liz Crawford and Benjamin Fay, a former Apple Inc. executive who joined Birchbox last year, the people said.

Mr. Fay declined to comment. Ms. Crawford and Ms. Chen, who was until recently the company's editorial director and will remain an adviser, couldn't immediately be reached.

"Today's climate demands growth companies make changes to show a more immediate path to profitability, conserve cash in uncertain times and rethink cost structures," co-founder and Chief Executive Katia Beauchamp wrote in a message posted to Medium.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Birchbox's talks with potential investors had failed to result in a deal and that Birchbox had suspended plans to open physical retail stores in the U.S. and expand into overseas markets such as China.

The company, which ships samples of beauty products for $10 a month, hasn't secured funding in more than two years, when a $60 million investment valued the young company at $485 million. Also the business of mailing of beauty products has become much more crowded field.

Write to Khadeeja Safdar at khadeeja.safdar@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 28, 2016 14:25 ET (18:25 GMT)

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