Groupon is cutting up to 400 jobs, nearly a quarter of its global workforce, as the company restructures around artificial intelligence. The layoffs are part of a broader plan to make the discount e-commerce platform an “AI-native” company, meaning Groupon wants artificial intelligence embedded into the core of how it serves customers and merchants.
The cuts are expected to take place in the coming months and will affect both employees and contractors. Groupon had about 1,734 employees at the end of 2025, according to filings cited in multiple reports, so the planned reduction represents one of the company’s most significant workforce changes in years. The company expects most of the job cuts to be completed by the end of the third quarter of 2026.
Groupon framed the layoffs as part of a strategic transformation, not simply a cost-cutting move. In a securities filing, the company said the shift toward AI is intended to help it better serve both customers and merchants. The restructuring is tied to a broader initiative called Project Foundry, which aims to embed AI agents across company functions and redesign Groupon’s operating model for what it calls an AI-native world.
Financially, the company expects the layoffs to save about $20 million to $25 million annually. In 2026 alone, Groupon expects gross savings of roughly $10 million to $12 million. But the company does not plan to keep all of those savings; it says up to half may be reinvested into marketing, AI infrastructure and higher-density talent. That shows the company is trying to reduce headcount in some areas while spending more on automation and specialized AI capabilities.
The restructuring comes after Groupon’s CEO, Dušan Šenkypl, said the company had fallen short of expectations in the previous quarter. That adds pressure to the AI pivot. Groupon, once a major name in online local deals, has spent years trying to reinvent itself after losing much of the momentum it had during its early public-market years. The new AI strategy is another attempt to make the business leaner, faster and more profitable.
The company also said the layoffs could cost it between $7 million and $13 million in pretax charges, mostly tied to severance and employee compensation. At the same time, Groupon raised its full-year adjusted EBITDA forecast to $75 million to $80 million, up from a previous range of $70 million to $75 million, suggesting investors are being told the restructuring should improve profitability.
Groupon’s move fits a wider pattern across the technology industry. Since 2022, more than 800,000 tech workers have been laid off, according to Layoffs.fyi, as companies that expanded during the pandemic continue to shrink and reorganize. Another compañías like Challenger, Gray & Christmas data showing U.S. tech employers announced 85,411 job cuts from January through April 2026, up 33% from the same period last year.
Overall, Groupon’s layoffs show how AI is becoming both a business strategy and a justification for major workforce reductions. The company is betting that automation can help revive its platform and lower costs. But for workers, the announcement is another sign that the AI transition is already reshaping tech employment in painful and immediate ways.
