An e-learning company attracted to open an office in Newfoundland and Labrador by the promise of tax dollars three years ago recently reduced its local workforce to four employees, months after taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from the province.

In 2012, the provincial government announced a $3.5-million forgivable loan to help Desire2Learn — now known as D2L — establish operations and build its local workforce to 35 employees within five years.

"Our ability to attract an operation the size and scope of Desire2Learn speaks to the positive business and investment environment that exists in the province," then-innovation minister Keith Hutchings said in October 2012.

At the time, company CEO John Baker expressed optimism for the future.

"We're going to try to contribute to the growth of Newfoundland," Baker said. "And we're going to try to make sure that we're building a company here that really is sustainable."

D2L did open an office in St. John's in the summer of 2013, and held a media event for its official opening in February 2014.

But none of the cash promised in 2012 was actually disbursed until the 2014-15 fiscal year.

According to government financial records obtained by CBC News through access to information, D2L received more than $670,000 — almost all of it in the last week of March 2015.

As of this June, according to the province, D2L employed eight people in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Over the summer, the company cut its number of local employees to four.

Interview requests declined

Business Minister Darin King declined to speak with CBC News about the D2L loan.

In an emailed statement, his department says D2L has met all of the conditions of its offer from the province at this time, and the investment of tax dollars is contingent on the number of jobs at the end of the five-year period.

D2L spokeswoman Virginia Jamieson said the company can't talk about its agreement with the government. She did note that it remains business as usual in the Newfoundland and Labrador region for D2L.

Jamieson added that the four current D2L employees in St. John's are working in the sales and services organization.

According to its website, D2L has 800 employees around the world, with offices in Canada, the United States, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Singapore.​