Maplebear Inc.
CART,
— the company better known as the grocery-delivery platform Instacart — said on Tuesday that it was laying off around 250 people, or around 7% of its staff, and announced the resignation of its chief operating officer. The announcement came after a fourth quarter in which sales came up short of estimates. However, the company forecast first-quarter gross transaction value — a gauge of the total value of the products customers buy — of $8 billion to $8.2 billion, above FactSet forecasts for $7.91 billion. For its fourth quarter, sales grew 6% to $803 million, below FactSet estimates for $805 million. The company earned 44 cents a share, compared with FactSet estimates for a 7-cent per-share loss. Gross transaction value rose 7% to $7.89 billion, just above estimates for $7.8 billion. Instacart said that earlier this month, Chief Operating Officer Asha Sharma notified the company of her plans to resign on March 1. Instacart said it “does not plan to hire or appoint” a new chief operating officer at this time. Shares were up 3.3% after hours.
