A former Starbucks cafe in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)
Starbucks is laying off 224 more workers tied to its Seattle headquarters, according to a new state filing. The coffee giant says the layoffs donβt represent a new round of cutbacks, but rather the lingering effect of restructuring work announced earlier this year.
About 120 of the 224 are employees who were offered roles in Starbucksβ new Nashville office and declined to relocate, according to the filing. Those roles are expected to be filled in Tennessee.
The remaining 104 in the notice filed Thursday stem from the restructuring that Starbucks announced in May, and fall largely within the group that designs, sites and builds its coffeehouses.
Not all 224 are based in Seattle. The filing covers employees who work at or report to Starbucksβ headquarters at 2401 Utah Ave. S., so some are located elsewhere in the country while reporting to managers at the Seattle campus. Starbucks did not say how many are based in Washington state.
The reductions are part of the βBack to Starbucksβ turnaround CEO Brian Niccol launched after taking over in September 2024 β an effort that has paired store-level technology upgrades and a simplified menu with a restructuring of the companyβs corporate ranks.
Starbucks has now laid off 537 corporate workers tied to its Seattle headquarters this year, across three state filings: 61 in a tech reorganization in May, 252 at the support center later that month, and the 224 disclosed this week.
Starbucks is targeting $2 billion in cost reductions over two years under Niccol, and has shed more than 2,300 corporate jobs companywide since last year, according to Bloomberg.
At the same time, Starbucks is building out its Nashville office, a $100 million investment expected to house 2,000 support jobs within five years. The company has said the majority of its corporate teams will remain in Seattle.
The design and development cuts come later than the rest of the May restructuring because the executive who leads the group, Stephen Piacentini, joined Starbucks from Chipotle in April, and the organizational changes in his group werenβt finalized when the May restructuring was announced.
Editorβs note: This story has been updated to clarify that the 224 workers covered by the filing report to Starbucksβ Seattle headquarters but not all are based in Seattle.
Zillow Groupβs revenue rose 18% to $772 million in the second quarter, beating its own forecast, but a $36 million restructuring charge from severance and other costs stemming from this weekβs layoffs pushed it to a $4 million net loss.
The Seattle-based online real estate company, which on Tuesday laid off more than 500 people, or 7% of its workforce, expects the restructuring to cost $59 million to $64 million in total, with the rest recorded in the third quarter, according to the companyβs 10-Q regulatory filing.
Zillow also announced a series of executive changes, including expanding CFO Jeremy Hofmannβs role to include chief operating officer. Jun Choo, who became COO in 2024, is stepping down to focus on his health, serving as an advisor through the end of the year.
The company created a chief legal and policy officer role and hired Cassandra βSandiβ Knight, a Google vice president of litigation and discovery, who was previously PayPal chief litigation counsel. Knight starts next week.
Zillow and Redfin are set to go to trial Aug. 24 as defendants in an antitrust case brought by the FTC and five state attorneys general over the $100 million rental listings deal between the two companies. Zillow has spent $26 million on the case so far this year, including $10 million in the second quarter.
In addition, Zillow promoted Kathleen Berroth to senior vice president of strategy and operations, and Eric Wilson to senior vice president and GM of mortgages.
For the second quarter, Zillow said the residential real estate industry grew 6%, while industry-wide lending for home purchases was roughly flat compared with a year ago. The number of people visiting real estate sites and apps declined overall as mortgage rates rose, the company said, citing Comscore. Zillowβs own traffic fell 2%, to an average of 239 million monthly users.
Most of the revenue growth came from Zillowβs newer businesses. Mortgage revenue rose 75% to $84 million as Zillow directed buyers on its site to its own lending arm, and rentals revenue rose 31% to $209 million. Residential revenue, from advertising sold to real estate agents, grew 7% to $465 million.
Poolin Technology has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, setting up an orderly wind-down and asset sale process tied to its West Texas mining operations.
The filing was made on July 22, 2026, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey under Case No. 26-18325. Poolin Technology PTE. Ltd. and its US affiliates, Lonestar Dream Inc. and Lonestar Taproot LLC, are listed in the case.
The filing details a $52 million stalking-horse bid from Thor CALAP LLC for the companyβs Pyote and Tarbush mining sites in West Texas. Poolinβs prepetition liabilities stand at $173.1 million, including $163.7 million in unsecured IOUs owed to roughly 11,700 Poolin Wallet users after withdrawals were frozen in 2022.
That last detail is the real weight of the story.
This is not just a mining-asset sale. It is another reminder that the damage from the last cycleβs freezes, failures, and stranded user balances is still working through courts years later.
TL;DR
Poolin Technology and affiliates filed for Chapter 11 on July 22.
The case includes a proposed $52 million stalking-horse sale for West Texas mining sites.
The company lists $163.7 million in unsecured IOUs owed to around 11,700 Poolin Wallet users.
Poolinβs Mining Assets Are Only Part Of The Story
Bitcoin mining bankruptcies are often discussed through the lens of equipment, energy costs, debt, and hashrate.
That makes sense. Mining is a capital-heavy business. Operators borrow money, buy machines, negotiate power, build facilities, and then hope Bitcoin prices, difficulty, and electricity costs line up well enough to keep margins alive.
But Poolinβs case has another layer.
The companyβs liabilities include user IOUs from the Poolin Wallet withdrawal freeze. That makes the bankruptcy more personal than a normal mining-site restructuring. There are users who have been waiting since 2022 for access to funds or some form of recovery.
That changes the tone.
A $52 million asset sale may help create value for the estate, but it has to be measured against much larger liabilities. A bankruptcy process can organize claims and assets, but it rarely makes everyone whole when the gap is this large.
The Texas Sites Get A Floor Bid
The stalking-horse bid is important because it creates a starting point for the sale.
In bankruptcy, a stalking-horse bidder sets a baseline offer for assets. Other bidders may come in higher, but the initial bid helps prevent a distressed sale from starting with no floor at all.
Here, Thor CALAP LLCβs $52 million bid relates to Poolinβs Pyote and Tarbush mining sites in West Texas.
Those assets may still have value because mining infrastructure is difficult to build. Power access, land, equipment, grid arrangements, and operating history can all matter, even when the company behind the assets is distressed.
Bitcoin mining sites can change hands and continue operating under new ownership if the economics make sense.
That is likely what creditors will be watching.
Can the sale price improve? Can the assets attract more bidders? Can the estate recover more value than the floor bid?
The User IOUs Remain The Hard Part
The user liabilities are much harder.
Poolin Wallet users were left with unsecured IOUs after withdrawals were frozen. In bankruptcy terms, unsecured creditors often face the most uncertainty, especially when asset values are far below total claims.
That does not mean there will be no recovery. It means expectations need to be realistic.
A mining-asset sale can help, but the numbers show why this is not a simple fix. The estate has to deal with administrative costs, secured claims if any, sale processes, creditor priorities, and the broader balance of liabilities.
For users, the process may feel painfully slow because bankruptcy is not designed for speed. It is designed to sort claims, preserve value, and distribute proceeds according to legal priorities.
That can be frustrating when users have already waited years.
Bitcoin Mining Still Carries Cycle Risk
Poolinβs filing also fits a broader pattern in Bitcoin mining.
Mining businesses can look strong in bull markets and become fragile very quickly when conditions change. A falling Bitcoin price, rising difficulty, higher energy costs, expensive debt, or poor treasury management can put pressure on even well-known operators.
The industry has professionalized, but it remains cyclical.
Public miners now talk more about energy strategy, high-performance computing, AI partnerships, debt discipline, and treasury management. That is partly because the old model of simply adding hashrate and hoping for higher BTC prices is not enough.
Poolinβs bankruptcy shows the other side of the sector.
Mining assets can survive, but corporate structures may fail. Facilities may be sold. Users and creditors may spend years waiting for recovery.
A Wind-Down, Not A Comeback Story
The key point is not to frame this as a classic turnaround.
The filing indicates an orderly wind-down and asset liquidation process. That is different from a company restructuring around a new growth plan.
Poolinβs West Texas sites may find a buyer. Creditors may recover some value. The bankruptcy court may bring order to a messy situation. But the story is not really about Poolin returning as a stronger miner.
It is about resolving what is left.
For the broader crypto market, this is another post-cycle cleanup story. The names change, but the pattern is familiar: frozen user funds, distressed assets, legal claims, and a long wait for recovery.
Bitcoin mining may be entering a more mature energy and infrastructure phase, but older failures are still being unwound.
Poolinβs Chapter 11 case is one more example of that long tail.