On Monday, New York-based video-sharing platform Vimeo announced that it will be laying off 11% of its workforce, citing financial difficulties caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The company, which was acquired by IAC in 2006 and then spun off in 2021, has long been a popular choice for videographers and video creators, with a focus on offering high-quality hosting and tools for editing and distributing video content. However, the pandemic and economic turmoil have had a significant impact on the company, leading to the decision to reduce its workforce.
According to a statement from Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud, the company is making the layoffs due to “geopolitical conflict, rising interest rates, and global recession fears.”
Several things have changed since we reduced our workforce by 6% in July. We have seen a further deterioration in economic conditions, in the form of prolonged geopolitical conflict, rising interest rates, and global recession fears. We also have a better understanding of where post-pandemic demand is settling and how that might impact our self-serve growth in the near term. Finally, we have a new executive team in place with a clear plan to focus our investments on 2 business priorities: re-accelerating self-serve, and doubling down on Vimeo Enterprise.
Sud says that while all departments at the company will be affected, the majority of layoffs will impact the Sales and R&D departments.
We made reductions in 2 ways: first in structural areas of our product and business where we have decided to significantly reduce focus and investment in 2023, and second by streamlining team sizes across the company to operate more efficiently. As a result, there are reductions in nearly every region and department at Vimeo. The majority of people impacted are in Sales and R&D, as those departments make up the majority of our overall workforce. We will be sharing specifics about which product and business areas are most impacted in a town hall tomorrow.
Vimeo has continued to pivot its video business away from trying to be a competitor to YouTube and leaned into its enterprise efforts. The company recently alerted creators about a substantial price hike for hosting videos but then walked back the move, apologizing and promising to improve its hosting price structure.
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