Social video startup Viddy lays off a third of its staff
Billed as the Instagram of video, the company is cutting 12 positions in marketing and operations just weeks after firing its chief executive.
Social video startup Viddy has laid off a dozen employees, or about a third of its work force, as it faces competition from a Twitter app.
The cuts come less than a month after the firing of co-founder and CEO Brett O'Brien, who was rumored to have turned down a buyout offer from Twitter. In a statement, Viddy's board confirmed the staff reductions, which will reportedly focus on marketing and operations:
As the board continues to review Viddy's business, we've identified specific ways to streamline costs which include eliminating some positions. These changes will allow the Viddy team to be focused on bringing the most innovative and engaging social mobile video product to market. Viddy has a strong balance sheet and an exciting product roadmap ahead, including an upcoming new product release, and we have the right team in place to execute moving forward.
Engineers deemed key to development of future products will reportedly stay with the company, which will be run by co-founders J.J. Aguhob and Chris Ovitz.
Billed as the Instagram of video, the company's apps allow mobile devices to capture and share 15-second video clips that can be enhanced with video and audio filters. The Venice, Calif.-based startup announced in December that it had 40 million users.
However, Viddy has faced increased competition for the past couple of weeks from Vine, an app that Twitter acquired in October and launched last month.
(Via TechCrunch)