Tripadvisor is laying off 25% of its workforce as shutdowns continue to crush the travel industry

• Tripadvisor is laying off approximately 25% of its workforce, the company announced in a statement Tuesday.
• More than 600 employees in the US and Canada as well as nearly 300 elsewhere in the world are losing their jobs as result, while some others will be furloughed, according to the statement.
• Tripadvisor also said it's asking most salaried employees to take a temporary pay cut and is closing its San Francisco and downtown Boston offices permanently.
• The layoffs and additional cost-cutting measures come as the coronavirus pandemic continues to decimate the travel industry.
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Online travel company Tripadvisor said in a statement Tuesday that it's laying off more than 900 employees globally, roughly a quarter of its total workforce.

The layoffs will impact around 600 employees in based in the US and Canada in addition to nearly 300 in other locations, while additional workers will be furloughed, the company said.

"We had hoped cutting discretionary expenses and furloughs would be enough, but as the pandemic worsened, it became clear that the company needed to take additional cost saving measures," CEO Steve Kaufer said in the statement.

Tripadvisor also announced: most of its salaried employees will be asked to transition to a 4-day work week and take a 20% pay cut for the next three months to help preserve roughly 100 jobs; its 401(k) matching program will be paused; and its San Francisco and downtown Boston office locations will be permanently shuttered, leaving those workers to continue to work virtually for from the company's headquarters outside Boston.

"These are the most difficult cost-saving decisions I have ever had to make. But I, and the Executive Leadership Team, firmly believe they are necessary and proportionate to the reality we face as a business and as an industry," Kaufer said.

Tripadvisor had already implemented cost-cutting measures even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, laying off 200 employees in January, Bloomberg reported.

But as outbreaks across the world have ground flights and emptied hotels and restaurants, the travel industry has been decimated, forcing the company to take increasingly aggressive measures as it attempts to weather the economic fallout. In March, Tripadvisor withdrew its financial forecast for 2020, citing the, increased impacts of pandemic and the resulting uncertainty around global travel.

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