Vancouver-based Hootsuite lays off 7% of staff, names new CEO

Vancouver-based digital media giant HootSuite unveiled its new Vancouver office to journalists on April 4, 2013. (HootSuite)

Vancouver — Social media technology company Hootsuite Inc. is laying off seven per cent of its staff in its third job cut in the last year and replacing its chief executive.

The Vancouver company says the latest round of layoffs amounts to about 70 people and is meant to position the business for the long term.

The job cut comes after Hootsuite reduced its workforce by five per cent in November and 30 per cent in August.

The company says it will also replace chief executive Tom Keiser, who has run Hootsuite since 2020, with Irina Novoselsky, who headed Career Builder Inc.

This latest round of Hootsuite layoffs comes the same day as Microsoft cut 10,000 workers and days after Lightspeed Commerce Inc. and Clutch made cuts.

The sector's layoffs are largely being attributed to fading investor exuberance, plummeting valuations and shifting consumer habits.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2023.