Fab.com, the design-oriented e-commerce site, is indeed seeing the departure of its chief operating officer Beth Ferreira, a person with knowledge of the situation has confirmed to TechCrunch. Ferreira will be transitioning out of her role at the company in the coming weeks, and is slated to depart at the end of the calendar year.
Word of Ferreira’s departure was first reported today by Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier, citing an email reportedly sent by Fab CEO Jason Goldberg to the company’s board.
The exit comes as Fab is currently working to winnow down its “top heavy” management structure, we’re told. This is the second executive exit at Fab in as many weeks, following the November 1 departure of co-founder and design chief Bradford Shellhammer. More executive level departures and reassignments are likely to be announced in the coming days.
In an email, a Fab spokesperson sent the following comment:
“It is accurate that Fab is undergoing management changes as we realign the business to execute on our 2014-2017 plan. There will be a number of management changes involved as we streamline the organization and move to a category P&L based structure. As not all of the organizational changes are final yet, we are withholding comment on any specific individuals until later this week.”
It’s an interesting downshift for the company, which has become known as an example of blockbuster global growth in the four years since its launch. But it now seems that in some ways Fab may have gotten too big for its britches, as recent months have brought layoffs, global office closures, and other strategy shifts as part of a newly sharp focus on achieving profitability.
With more than $330 million in venture capital invested in Fab, the stakes are certainly high for the company’s success — and at this point, only time will tell if the current changes wind up being for the best.