LivingSocial Ends Adventures, Closes New York Office, Cuts 30 Jobs

Back in May, word was that LivingSocial was placing its hope in events to prop up its struggling business. At the time, it seemed somewhat viable, as the company sold 561,469 vouchers for experiences and events in the U.S. in the first quarter of the year, up 850 percent from the first quarter last year.

That hope has been adjusted.

LivingSocial is shutting down its three-year-old Adventures business, which focused on local events produced in-house. The company is cutting 30 employees from its payroll as a result of this move.

While this means LivingSocial will stop producing local events on its own, it still plans on promoting third-party events. This marks a shift from smaller local events to larger touring events, according to the company.

The daily-deals company is also shuttering its office in New York City. This comes less than a month after LivingSocial shut down its office in Seattle. While its Seattle employees were asked to work remotely, a company spokeswoman says New York employees who can’t work remotely are being provided office space elsewhere. The Next Web cites sources who say that the company’s part-time employees in New York will be shown the door by Oct. 1.

LivingSocial says this isn’t intended to be a cost-cutting measure, though rationality would seem to say otherwise. The company also notes that it’s looking to hire 50 new workers at its flagship customer-care call center.

The struggles continue for LivingSocial and the daily-deals industry, or whatever’s left of it. A survey from Social Media Examiner found that 80 percent of marketers have no plans to utilize daily-deals sites like LivingSocial and Groupon in the future.

While Groupon has experienced a bit of a resurgence lately, LivingSocial’s path back to prominence seems unclear.