Veoh lays off 20 percent of workforce

Online video-sharing Web site Veoh announced Wednesday that it was laying off 20 percent of its workforce, or about 20 employees, in the face of a softening ad market.

A Veoh representative blamed the uncertain economic climate for the cuts, but insisted that company revenue was growing at a healthy clip.

"We know the realities of the market," spokeswoman Gaude Paez said Wednesday. "But no one knows how soft the ad market will get."

Paez went on to say that the company is "in good shape" and has "plenty of cash in the bank." Although she wouldn't reveal how much funding remained, she did say the company was growing revenue 20 percent each month and that revenue was in the "double-digit millions" range.

The layoffs come less than a month after it denied rumors that it was gearing up to lay off 40 percent of its workforce. At the time, Paez told CNET News that the only recent or planned cuts were the elimination of 15 to 18 jobs based in St. Petersburg, Russia, that were transferred to the U.S., Paez said.

The company announced in June that it has received another round of funding, this time for $30 million, from such new backers as Intel and Adobe Systems. Previous investors include Goldman Sachs and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. The investment brought the company's total money raised to $70 million, giving the video-sharing site a valuation of about $120 million.

However, Veoh, which competes with YouTube and Hulu, hasn't managed to break out of the pack of also-ran video sites.

[Tangledwebtech]

Don't you just love corporate PR spin. It reminds me of the famous Monty Python sketch called "the Dead Parrot" where a customer confronts a pet shop owner that the parrot he has been sold is dead. The pet shop owner replys "He's not dead, he's resting". Veoh's not dead, it' s resting. It's not dead, it's stunned. Anybody with a brain can obviously see that they are living on their nest egg and bailing water trying not to sink. Reality is setting in that nobody in this economic environment is going to invest any more money in this startup. They never have figured out how to be profitable with ad revenue and campaigns. I just wonder how long Michael Eisner and all the other investors are going to wait for The Great Pumpkin to arrive showering them with candy and toys lol. Can anybody say tax right off. Funny, I looked everywhere and couldn't find any news about Hulu laying off any staff.