Financial comparison site Finder has cut its workforce by 17% in a fresh round of redundancies, the third major staffing reduction in the past 12 months.
Around 60 people have lost their jobs globally in the latest cuts. It may be the fourth time HR handed out redundancy notices in the past year, with SmartCompany reporting there was “a smaller round late last year”. All up, nearly a quarter of the team left in 2023.
It’s believed that the website’s editorial team is among those targeted in the latest cuts. It often publishes stories based on Finder surveys, including one yesterday that 74% of drivers have experienced road rage.
Finder now operates in 20 countries and says it has 4 million+ monthly visitors.
The business makes money from referral fees when users click on Finder links to products featured on the site, as well as via sponsorship and promotional advertising fees.
A company spokesperson told Startup Daily they are working with the staff effected on potential redeployment opportunities.
“Finder has taken this difficult, but prudent decision to restructure its operations to streamline business operations and right-size its expense base to suit current market conditions,” they said.
“We remain firmly focused on the future growth of the comparison business in our core markets.”
It’s been a year of woe for the business, described in 2022 by KMPG as one of Australia’s ‘Emerging Giants’ startups, alongside Secure Code Warrior, Omniscient and Eucalyptus.
The headcount began shrinking in February 2023, when Finder shed around 15% of its workforce of around 500 people, then followed up with another 40 departing in April last year.
It’s a little over three years since Finder undertook its first raise since school friends Fred Schebesta and Frank Restuccia cofounded the fintech in 2006 as a credit card review blog, banking $30 million from Microsoft-backed Future Now Capital to be valued at $680 million.
But since then Schebesta’s evangelical belief in cryptocurrency has caused headaches for the business.
In November 2022, Finder suddenly killed off its fixed return stablecoin product, Earn, saying at the time that it “no longer” served customers amid rising interest rates. But just a few weeks later, after the company announced Schebesta, was stepping down co-CEO role, the corporate regulator, ASIC, sued Finder for alleged ‘unlicensed conduct’ over Earn. The matter is still be fought out in the Federal Court.
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