
Bench to be Acquired, After Abrupt Shut Down
In a surprise turn of events, accounting startup Bench is being acquired by Employer.com, just days after it abruptly shut down and left thousands of customers without access to their accounts. The acquisition was confirmed by a representative from the company.
The sudden shutdown on December 27 caused widespread chaos among Bench’s customer base, which includes over 35,000 “American small business owners,” according to an archived version of the company’s website. Customers were locked out of their accounts, leaving them without access to critical accounting and tax documents as tax season approaches.
However, Employer.com has announced that it will revive Bench’s platform and provide instructions for customers to log in and retrieve their data imminently. This means that customers will have the option to either port their data or continue using the service under new ownership.
In a statement, Jennifer Bouyoukos, Chief People Officer at Bench, confirmed that “a large number of employees” are being called back to work to ensure continuity of services during this transition period.
Source: techcrunch.com