By Alan Healy
There are fears for the future of the Irish operations for ticketing and events company Eventbrite after the company announced it is to cut its global workforce by 45%.
The San Francisco headquartered company has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic with events across the globe being cancelled.
Eventbrite's European hub is located on Cork's South Mall in a former bank building with space for up to 100 staff. It opened in 2018 and as recently as November the company was holding a recruitment drive seeking 20 new staff.
However, workers across the company were contacted by the CEO Julia Hartz yesterday and informed of the news.
Eventbrite told the Irish Examiner they could not say, at this stage, what impact the restructuring will have on their operations here in Ireland.
"As a company whose mission is to bring the world together through live experiences, Eventbrite has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 global pandemic, alongside the entire live events industry," a spokesperson said.
"To ensure the long-term durability of our mission, we have made the difficult decision to reduce our global workforce by 45 per cent. This is a harsh reality to face and we are saddened to see many of our team members depart the company."
Eventbrite said they are committed to taking care of impacted employees and in addition to severance, they will provide extended health benefits and job replacement support.
"This is a challenging time for communities all over the world and while we can’t predict when the pandemic will pass, we are committed to providing a strong platform to help creators rebuild their businesses and enable the return of live events when it’s once again safe to gather."
