E-commerce firm Thrasio laying off staff, will replace CEO in August

An Amazon worker makes deliveries in New York City.Spencer Platt/Getty

Thrasio, a Boston-area company that buys consumer brands on Amazon, will lay off an unspecified number of employees this week and replace its chief executive in the coming months, a sign that the high-flying startup is retrenching.

In an e-mail sent to staff Monday morning, CEO Carlos Cashman and president Danny Boockvar told employees that the company would reduce the size of its workforce, but they did not indicate how many people would be impacted. The e-mail was obtained by Insider, and a Thrasio spokesperson confirmed to the Globe that it was accurate.

According to the e-mail, Thrasio will inform employees on Tuesday or Wednesday if they are part of the layoff. If so, their last day at the company will be May 13. In November, Thrasio said it had more than 1,000 employees.

In a press release Monday, Thrasio said Greg Greeley, who spent nearly two decades at Amazon as a vice president (and more recently was at Airbnb), has joined its board of directors and would transition to the role of CEO in August. Cashman will leave his executive role and remain on the board of directors.

It’s been a tumultuous period for Thrasio, which according to PitchBook has raised $3.5 billion from investors since it was founded in 2018.

In less than eight months, Thrasio has shuffled both of its cofounders out of the CEO role, a position they used to share. (Josh Silberstein resigned as co-chief executive in September.) Thrasio also halted a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, then raised more than $1 billion in an October funding round.

Walpole-based Thrasio is one of the largest e-commerce aggregators. The company buys brands that sell products online, with the goal of boosting sales with technology, marketing, and logistics know-how.

The company has been touting the speed at which it has been acquiring new brands, but sources told Insider the company was growing too quickly.

In the e-mail to employees, the executives said Thrasio was at times acquiring a new business almost every week. Cashman and Boockvar said the company needs to “properly absorb and grow the businesses we have acquired” and “make sure we have rigorous processes and controls.”