Gilt Groupe Lays Off Gilt City CEO, Closes Several Local Offices

Gilt Groupe confirmed today that it is eliminating 10 percent of its staff, including Gilt City chief Nathan Richardson and Park and Bond CEO John Auerbach.

The luxury-but-discounted goods provider will close several Gilt Groupe offices, including Atlanta, Seattle and Dallas, and several Gilt City offices inherited from last fall’s BuyWithMe acquisition, including San Diego, Houston and Philadelphia — a purchase that occurred after BuyWithMe ran out of money.

Gilt Groupe CEO Kevin Ryan implied in an interview with AllThingsD that Richardson and Auerbach were more oriented toward “start up” modes, suggesting that development will continue. We would expect the separate companies to consolidate under one roof. 

Speaking at ILM East last year in Boston, Richardson said the site had strongly differentiated itself from other deals providers, leveraging Gilt Groupe’s upscale list of 5 million members. He also noted that Gilt City’s flash sales approach — which put items on sales until inventory was depleted — provided higher average dollar values and better email open rates.