Restructuring events
European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
The restructuring events database contains factsheets with data on large-scale restructuring events reported in the principal national media and company websites in each EU Member State. This database was created in 2002.
American technology company Automattic, has announced a global restructuring involving the dismissal of approximately 280 employees, representing 16% of its workforce across 90 countries.
The programme will affect all divisions and geographies. So far, the sources indicate that the layoffs will affect employees in Ireland (4 out 21 people lost their jobs) and the US. The layoffs affect multiple divisions, including WooCommerce, Tumblr, and AI-focused teams, with roles in sales, marketing, product management, design, and business operations particularly impacted. The restructuring is not being negotiated with employee representatives. Automattic offers nine weeks of severance, laptop retention, and job placement support.
The decision aims to improve productivity, profitability, and agility amid a highly competitive tech market and follows a challenging year marked by legal disputes and internal tensions.
Founded in 2005, Automattic, best known as the creator of WordPress, Tumblr and WooCommerce, operates a remote-first model and manages a portfolio of digital tools and services. The company operates with a fully remote workforce, employing over 1,770 employees in 90 countries.
Eurofound (2025), Automattic, Internal restructuring in World, factsheet number 202679, European Restructuring Monitor. Dublin, https://dev.eurofound.europa.eu/restructuring-events/detail/202679.
This working paper offers a comprehensive methodological overview of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) databases. Even though the methodology has not changed over time, new categories have been added, and the way it has been used by researchers and policymakers...
This Eurofound research paper explores key trends in restructuring in recent years, highlighting the companies that announced the largest job losses and job gains in the EU. It builds on an analysis of company announcements recorded in Eurofound’s European Restructuring...
In 2023, thousands of workers in big tech lost their jobs. Meta, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and Salesforce had been considered to offer good and secure jobs up to this point. Giants of the information and communication technology (ICT) sector,...
In 2024, the automotive sector in the EU came to the fore in public and policy discussions. The focus was on the slowdown in electric vehicle (EV) sales, rising global competition, belated investments in new technologies, and the potential closure...
The more employee monitoring resembles surveillance – with its systematic, continuous and detailed tracking of employees' activities, behaviours or communications – the greater the potential for infringement of both privacy and data protection rights. Although the EU General Data Protection...
Since 2013, Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legislation has been documenting regulatory developments in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change. The most recent update to the...
