Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop axes staff, cites ‘pivot to AI workflow’ in latest business blow… just 18 months after large-scale layoffs at the company
Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness empire Goop has laid off more staff as it announced a ‘pivot to AI’ just 18 months after mass layoffs.
The 53-year-old actress’s wellness and lifestyle brand implemented two rounds of cuts over two months in late 2024, laying off nearly 50 employees.
Goop dropped about 20 more this week, citing ‘profitability and artificial intelligence’. Disk reported.
Layoffs apparently ‘justified by shift to AI workflow,’ Emily Sundberg reports Feed Me Substack.
It was also claimed that Paltrow moderated the town hall meeting when the announcement was made.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Paltrow and Goop for comment but has yet to hear back.
Gwyneth Paltrow’s wellness empire Goop has laid off more employees as it announced a ‘pivot to AI’ just 18 months after mass layoffs at the company
The Oscar-winning actress, who also serves as CEO of Goop, founded the company as a weekly email newsletter in September 2008.
It later expanded into e-commerce, collaborating with fashion brands, hosting pop-up shops and even hosting ‘wellness summits’, while also launching a print magazine, podcast and documentary series on Netflix.
But the last few years haven’t been easy for the wellness and lifestyle brand.
In September 2024, approximately 40 people were laid off from a staff of 216, accounting for 18 percent of the e-commerce site’s workforce.
Late the following month, additional cuts of approximately ten people were made across various departments, including the beauty, programming, engineering and creative departments; This equates to less than 6 percent of the staff.
We were told at the time that this was the aim. ‘Optimizing operational efficiency and revenue growth across our core beauty and fashion verticals,’ a Goop spokesperson said Business Content.
Paltrow said the 2024 layoffs put the company back in growth mode, but it looks like there are still cuts to be made.
There are few details about how solvent the company is; Revenue is up year over year in 2023, and 2024 also looks like a year of growth, a spokesperson said.
The 53-year-old entrepreneur’s wellness and lifestyle brand has completed two rounds of layoffs in two months in late 2024
According to Puck’s report, Goop laid off approximately 20 employees this week, citing “profitability and artificial intelligence.”
Meanwhile, according to the tip on Emily Sundberg’s Feed Me Substack, the layoffs were allegedly “justified through the transition to an AI workflow” because there were also explanations for the lack of profitability.
Goop Beauty revenue increased by 21 percent compared to last year, compared to a massive 42 percent increase in 2023, while G Label revenue increased by 45 percent, the spokesperson said.
Outages also occurred in 2021; At least 140 employees are believed to have left the company over a two-year period, including senior executives including a chief financial officer, chief technology officer and chief risk officer.
The actor listed a candle called ‘This Smells Like My Vagina’ on the online store Goop.
While the pandemic has led to some staff losses, former staffers have noted how Goop’s high turnover problem predated the COVID-19 layoffs, citing stingy pay, a “culture of taxation” and the Academy Award winner’s habit of picking his favorites and then seemingly changing his mind.
Other former employees who complained about the company on Glassdoor also criticized “bullies” and “mean girls” who relied on “fear-based management,” and said Paltrow in particular “wanted to spend her days trying on clothes at a time when the company desperately needs a real CEO.”
When the company was founded, it seemed to create fans and critics in equal measure with some eyebrow-raising products, including sex powder and libido-boosting supplements, vampire repellent, and scented candles; one of which was advertised as allegedly smelling like Paltrow’s orgasm.
The actress had put up a $75 candle cheekily titled This Smells Like My Vagina for sale on her online store Goop, explaining that the geranium, citrus bergamot and cedar scented candle actually started as a joke.
According to the product description: ‘This candle started as a joke between perfumer Douglas Little and GP – the two were working on a scent and he blurted out ‘Uhhh.. this smells like vagina’ – but it turned into a funny, gorgeous, sexy and beautifully unexpected scent.
The actress also previously recommended readers buy a $15,000 24-carat gold vibrator and vaginal jade egg.
Join the discussion
Should companies replace their employees with AI to increase profits, or does this risk destroying workplace culture?
Some of Goop’s healthy living and lifestyle products attracted attention
He recently launched Goop Kitchen, an extension of the brand and a health-focused restaurant that only serves food for takeout and delivery.
But Paltrow appears to have no trouble attracting big money, raising more than $140 million in capital from A-list firms
Paltrow said she was starting to feel uncomfortable accepting so much venture capital funding.
‘Especially if you’ve received venture capital money, you start to ask questions about scale. This is where I think this can be very, very difficult. And frankly, I made some mistakes along the way,” he said at the Forbes conference in September 2024.
She recently launched Goop Kitchen, an extension of the brand and a health-focused restaurant that only serves food for takeout and delivery.
