Did Etsy just cancel its summer internship program? [Update]

Twitter is abuzz this Wednesday morning with talk that Etsy canceled its internship program for this summer, leaving some young developers and designers in the lurch.

The move, if true (we’ve reached out to Etsy to confirm, but have not heard back yet), would come after a tumultuous month for Etsy, in which it fired its labor-friendly CEO Chad Dickerson, its CTO John Allspaw and announced plans to lay off 8 percent of its employees.

Update, 5/24/17, 11:53 a.m.: According to an Etsy spokesperson, the company has substantially scaled back its summer internship program, but it will still have some interns coming in.

https://twitter.com/TheAmyCode/status/867154867512524800

The company’s stock price jumped last week after SEC filings showed private equity firms TPG Group Holdings and Dragoneer Investment Group had taken large stakes in the company.

CNBC is reporting that both firms have asked Etsy “to engage in discussions regarding strategic alternatives,” including the possible sale of the company. Business Insider threw out names like Walmart, eBay and Party City as potential buyers.

https://twitter.com/lifeofaSAMurai/status/867190382257467392

Flexport would love to have you if SF is an option. DM if interested. Good luck!

— ⊃⪽⫓⩀⊙⋂⊃ (@syzygize) May 24, 2017

Online, people from some of the industry’s top companies are reaching out to Etsy interns to talk about possible internships, including people from Buzzfeed, SeatGeek, Uber, Flexport, Sidewalk Labs, Twilio, Spotify and many others.

We’ve reached out to ex-interns Samantha Stultz and Dana Lee for comment.

Hey everyone! Does anyone know anyone who is hiring for the summer? My summer job cancelled their intern program 😞

— daninoush@hachyderm.io 🌸💖 (@daninoush) May 23, 2017

Someone from our team will be reaching out shortly. #JoinTheBand.

— Travis L. Robinson (@TravisLRobinson) May 24, 2017

Etsy’s website has no information on whether it canceled its program and has no internship positions listed. We’ll be updating when we hear more.