“Ight Imma head out.” -Josh Silverman to Etsy

After eight years at the helm, Etsy’s Josh Silverman just pulled a “thanks for the memories” and announced he’s stepping down as CEO… sliding into an “executive chairman” role that essentially means he’ll still have opinions, but no one has to listen to them anymore.

The handoff happens January 1, 2026, when Kruti Patel Goyal (Etsy’s chief of growth and the brains behind Depop’s Gen Z thrift explosion) takes the big chair. Unfortunately for Kruti, she didn’t get the “Brian Niccol is our new CEO” glow-up treatment. The second the announcement hit, Etsy stock dropped 5%. And the weird part? It happened right around earnings… which were actually pretty solid. Revenue came in at $678 million, earnings per share landed at $0.63, both clear beats. 

But then came the number that did Etsy in: gross merchandise sales fell 6.5% to $2.72 billion. Active buyers slipped 5%, sellers fell nearly 11%, and somewhere an analyst quietly crossed “Etsy comeback” off his Q4 bingo card.It’s almost like the pandemic boom wore off, and now everyone’s ghosting Etsy for Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop (who would’ve thought?).

Meanwhile, Depop (the bright spot) crushed it with 39% GMS growth, proving once again that teens selling old jeans might be Etsy’s last hope.

(Source: Depop)

On his way out the door, Silverman says the company’s future lies in AI tools to make shopping more “personal” and less “Amazon-ish.” They even partnered with OpenAI last month so sellers can push products straight into ChatGPT (probably won’t save the company but at least they’re trying).

He’s leaving on decent terms, calling it the “right time to hand over the baton,” but even Stevie Wonder can see that Etsy’s running out of batons to hand over. Trump’s move to end the rule that let small overseas packages (under $800) skip import taxes is now hitting Etsy sellers square in the wallet. And it doesn't seem like there’s a single dang thing they can to get around it.

(Source: Fortune)

Regardless, Kruti Goyal steps in as Etsy’s first female CEO at a time when growth is flatter than a pancake. Until then, Etsy’s investors are probably on Temu right now… looking for cheaper hope (can’t blame them).

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Amazon as mentioned in the article.