Though e-commerce and “everyday design” website Fab has in fact gone through multiple layoff periods over the last year or so, the company’s CEO is saying that the report of its death was an exaggeration– in so many words.
Valleywag’s Sam Biddle recently declared, based on confirmation from multiple sources, that “Fab.com is probably dead this year.” He says that last month’s layoffs were actually the beginning of the end, not a restructuring and refocusing effort (as some struggling companies often do).
From Valleywag’s article:
Last month’s bloodletting, multiple sources say, was the beginning of the end of Fab, a company once considered one of the most promising new internet retail outfits in the world. The layoffs were not part of some last-ditch effort to stabilize the company, but the start of a longer process that will see the company slowly unscrew and disassemble itself, like so many overpriced designer sofas.
Insiders tell me that even the Fab.com survivors—down to between 10 and 15 in the New York HQ—have all been given ending dates for their remaining jobs. These stragglers who weren’t immediately fired will be gradually let go over the course of six months, with the latest remnants of Fab departing by January 2015 (a Fab spokesperson denied these are end dates, instead saying employees “have minimum guarantees of employment”).
He adds:
“None of the Fab insiders who’ve spoken to me seem surprised by what appears to be the company’s imminent and final implosion. Those still at the office spend their time on Facebook. There’s little real work left to do, except maybe job hunt..”
Now, Fab CEO Jason Goldberg has taken to Twitter to denounce the report, calling it nothing but “bullshit hate.”
Bullshit hateful rumors of @fab shutting down are just that. Bullshit hate. We’ve got years of money & a sound plan. Proof in time.
— Jason Goldberg (@betashop) June 4, 2014
He also took a swipe at Business Insider for reporting Valleywag’s original report.
& @businessinsider @hblodget If going to source frm impetuous @samfbiddle vs. company spokesperson, u don’t deserve journalist license.
— Jason Goldberg (@betashop) June 4, 2014
It is important to note that the Goldberg-Biddle back-and-forth isn’t a new phenomenon.
It's extraordinary how well Apple can keep secrets. I can't take a crap without @samfbiddle knowing about it.
— Jason Goldberg (@betashop) June 3, 2014
Image via screenshot, Fab.com
