Etsy (ETSY) recently posted its strongest sales growth in years. Days later, it told roughly 220 employees they were losing their jobs. Companies usually cut staff when business is struggling, not when revenue growth accelerates.
But Etsy says the two events are directly connected, and the explanation offers a window into where CEO Kruti Patel Goyal wants to take the company next. Etsy framed the move as a reshaping of talent around artificial intelligence and machine learning skills, instead of a cost-cutting exercise.