New York-based real estate firm Compass is taking action against its technology group in an effort to cut costs amid the housing market downturn.
News of the cuts was announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, in which Compass called the upcoming layoffs a “significant step” as part of cost-cutting efforts announced in its mid-August earnings report.
“A significant portion of the workforce reductions include headcount reductions across the company’s manufacturing and engineering teams,” Compass said in an SEC filing.
About 3,000 of the company’s 21,636 employees are based in the Bay Area, LinkedIn reports. It’s unclear how many employees will be affected by this round of cuts, and Compass declined SFGATE’s request for comment.
Compass is known for merging the tech and real estate industries by using technology to simplify the process of buying or selling property — a platform that’s now high enough to warrant layoffs in the company’s technology division. The union said it expects $23 million to $26 million in severance benefits and other costs related to laying off affected workers.
This is Compass’ second round of layoffs in recent months — the company laid off about 450 people in June, a Compass spokesperson previously told SFGATE. Redfin also laid off hundreds of employees at the time, and Realtor.com laid off an undisclosed number of workers earlier this month following a slowdown in sales in the real estate market.
