Personnel Cuts Hit Online Video Companies

Written by Ryan Lawler

Friday, December 5. 2008 at 11:05 AM EST Post a comment

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Employees at online video firms RealNetworks Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK) and Brightcove Inc. became the latest victims of the economic slowdown, as both firms have cut personnel in recent days.

RealNetworks announced yesterday that it is cutting 130 employees, or approximately 7.5 percent of staff, due to global economic conditions. In a blog post, Real vice president of corporate communications Bill Hankes writes that the cuts will be made despite the company still expecting record revenues for the year. According to Hankes, RealNetworks is keeping all affected employees on staff through the end of the year.

In an internal memo obtained by AllThingsD, chairman and CEO Ron Glaser writes that about one third of the cuts will be made in the company's Seattle office and one third in other U.S. locations, with the final third being cut in Real's worldwide operations. Glaser writes further that many of the cuts will be the result of consolidation from acquisitions that the company has made over the last year or so. 

Online video firm Brightcove has also been affected by the economy, cutting 25 positions out of its 172-person staff. According to the company, the cuts were made across the organization and were not confined to any specific area.

The cuts are being made not long after the company released the latest update to its video management platform, and after it decided to shut down its consumer portal, Brightcove.tv.

Brightcove's official statement on the cuts:

Over this last year, we've focused and invested in our platform business. We've seen tremendous growth in that business, and we continue to build on the solid lead we have in the category. We're committed to putting more energy into developing our online video platform, serving our customers, and solidifying our technology and innovation advantage. As we move into 2009, we have reconfigured the Brightcove team around our key strategic priorities, and this has involved some staffing adjustments.