Jan 5, 2023

Struggling Vimeo to Lay Off 11% of Employees, President Resigns

Once a vital resource in the independent animation and filmmaking community, video streaming platform Vimeo is struggling to become sustainable and profitable after its pivot to a tech platform.

The New York-based company has laid off a significant portion of its staff and its president has announced his resignation.

The reason the company is struggling - its CEO Anjali Sud sent a letter to employees yesterday citing "further deterioration in economic conditions, including prolonged geopolitical conflict, rising interest rates, and global recessionary concerns." Sudd also said that demand for the company's "self-service" video solutions has declined since the pandemic.

How Many Will Be Laid Off The company is reducing the size of its workforce by 11%, which, in Sood's words, is "the right thing to do to help Vimeo become a more focused and successful company." This follows a 6% reduction in the workforce announced last summer. The exact number of employees was not disclosed, but based on the last publicly available data on employees, it can be estimated that the layoffs will affect about 125 people; according to Sud, there will be layoffs in "almost all regions and departments of Vimeo," with the majority of those affected in sales and research and development.

The Big Picture Vimeo spun off from Barry Diller's Internet holding company IAC in 2021 and became a publicly traded company. Around the same time, the company's CEO announced that he was abandoning the filmmakers and animators who relied on the site as a distribution platform for their work. Says Sud: "We are not focused on the number of views or content on Vimeo. We don't want Vimeo to be an entertainment destination that people come to."

As a standalone company, Vimeo's market capitalization has plummeted 94% over the past two years; in the third quarter of 2022, the company posted revenue of $108.1 million, but still had a net loss of $21.4 million (up from a $11.7 million loss in the same period a year earlier).

COMPANY PRESIDENT ALSO RESIGNS: Separate from yesterday's announcement, the company announced in a December 20 filing with the SEC that President Mark Kornfilt will resign effective March 31, 2023. Mr. Kornfilt will continue to serve as an advisor to the company.