Wayfair Lays Off 550 Employees, 350 In Boston

Wayfair has laid off 550 employees, including 350 in its Boston headquarters, after the fast-growing e-commerce giant admitted it was expanding too quickly. The overall layoffs are about 3 percent of the global workforce, which numbers around 17,000.

Wayfair, which operates largely in selling home goods and furniture online, has aggressively expanded in recent years. But the company, which opened a second Boston office over the summer, has yet to turn a profit.

The company's stock fell nearly 9 percent as of Thursday morning.

"We continually evaluate the needs of the business,'' Wayfair said in a statement. "As part of that process, we have made some organizational changes that affect approximately 3% of our global workforce.''