Unprofitable SF-based social media company lays off a fourth of staff

The firm announced the job cut — which a company spokesperson told the Associated Press would hit almost 200 employees — together with its quarterly results Tuesday. Despite hosting more users and pulling in more revenue than in the same stretch a year ago, Nextdoor lost $38 million from July through September, according to the quarterly report.

Nextdoor is laying off 99 workers from its San Francisco headquarters, according to a document filed with the city under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which mandates companies give 60 days’ notice to employees before they are let go. According to the document, which SFGATE obtained, the firm is cutting more than two dozen software engineers, six recruiters and several team leaders who are based in the city.

Sarah Friar, Nextdoor’s CEO, wrote in the press release that the company has been facing a “difficult advertising backdrop” and that Nextdoor’s commitment to its shareholders meant “right sizing our business and aligning our team and other expenses with our near term revenue expectations.”

“This reduction in our team is the hardest decision we have had to make at Nextdoor,” she added. The firm had 704 employees at the end of 2022, according to a February filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nextdoor has focused on bringing small geographic communities together on its online platform for discussion of neighborhood issues. The app  eventually became known as a haven for racial profiling, fearmongering and misinformation. Last summer, Bloomberg reported that Friar had made it her goal to promote kindness on the platform, though she admitted to the outlet that “toxic” content does drive more short-term engagement.

The firm now joins a common tech trend: It’s yet another company that went public and took on vast sums of money via a SPAC merger in the height of the pandemic’s tech investment frenzy and is now turning to layoffs in a more typical economic climate.

Nextdoor did not immediately respond to SFGATE’s request for comment.

Hear of anything happening at Nextdoor or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.