CHICAGO — Groupon announced in a securities filing that it will cut up to 400 jobs, or nearly 25% of its worldwide workforce, as part of a restructuring plan to transform into an AI-native platform. The company said the move is intended to "better deliver on our mission, serving both customers and merchants." Groupon estimated the restructuring will cost up to $13 million but result in annual savings exceeding $20 million. The layoffs are expected to take place over the coming months.

Groupon CEO Dušan Šenkypl said the company "fell short of our expectations" last quarter. The announcement coincided with a 1% drop in Groupon’s share price to $21.20 on Thursday, adding to a 27% decline over the past 12 months.

Groupon’s job cuts reflect a broader trend in the tech sector. According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. tech employers announced 85,411 layoffs from January to April 2026, a 33% increase from the same period in 2025. Nearly 50,000 of the total job cuts announced in 2026 have been linked to AI, representing about 17% of roughly 300,000 total layoffs this year. Since 2022, more than 800,000 tech workers have been laid off, per Layoffs.fyi.

Greg Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, said, "We are seeing a lot of layoff announcements that are supposedly related to greater use of AI. They are aimed at cutting down on labor expenses, while AI investment is growing very rapidly, but I'm not entirely sure this is a replacement situation where talent is." He added, "When you announce layoffs in general, it's not seen as a good thing from markets' and investors' perspectives. But when you say you're proceeding with layoffs because of AI, it's positive from a communications standpoint."

Daniel Keum, associate professor of management at Columbia Business School, offered a different perspective, noting that AI’s primary labor impact has been through hiring reductions rather than layoffs. "AI seems to be impacting labor finally, but it's actually not so much through increased layoffs. The main channel tends to be reduced hiring, especially reduced hiring of junior workers," he said. "The major sort of impact of AI will come from reduced hiring of juniors. Seniors are a lot more difficult to replace."