dame theory
Banned
- 3,281
- 10
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2010
For better or worse I am a Myspace employee. Today, Myspace will be laying off 60% of the staff. This comes as no surprise to us or anyone who is vaguely familiar with the recent lack of success of Myspace. I work in the Beverly Hills HQ. So...ask away...I'll do my best to keep this up to date.
I cannot answer questions about strategy, why MS did this or killed that feature. My point in doing this is to document it, provide interesting answers to redditors. IAMA is very insightful and I have been a long time fan of reddit.
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930AM: Time for some meetings. I'll be back to respond.
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1040AM: Back. Today's meetings have been cancelled. People in the SF office have sent out goodbye emails so that implies layoffs have started there. An internal email said 500 people will be let go. It's pretty quiet here. In 2009 they laid off 400 people & that was a strange day where people cried. Not sure if today will be as bad because this isn't too surprising. I think were all hoping for the best.
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1215PM: Off to lunch with my team in the upstairs cafeteria. Never before have we all ate together. It's good to get people together but disappointing it has taken this to do it. That may speak to the decline of MS such that there's not much enthusiasm around here. The cafeteria (named Mycafe, we get a $10 dollar daily budget) is packed because people are not at their desks.
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200PM: back from lunch...in 2009 there was a flood of emails saying goodbye, not so much today. So far I know of two VPs that were let go. The thread on techcruch is filled with companies seeking resumes...sweet.
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315PM: people in my group are now being let go. Doesnt look like my group is being hit hard & at this point I may not be laid off...hmm...should I not be laid off then I may delete my posts here.
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330PM: the courtyard is being set up for a company wide meeting tomorrow where the CEO will probably do a rah rah session for the remaining souls.
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400PM: I'm not being laid off. So...it's a mixed blessing. I'll leave my posts up so long as there is no risk to myself. Fortunately I think I've been objective here. There's also a party at Red Rock on Sunset Blvd that I'm heading to to hang with current & former myspacers. Any interesting, permissible stories I'll add here.
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530PM: Seems like middle management took the brunt of the cuts. Conversation starters seem to be are you in or are you out. "in" meaning you're in jail and at myspace. "out" meaning you're free and not at myspace.
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600PM: Just checked my PMs. Thanks for the emails from recruiters. For any recruiters out there my friends & I focus on DW engineering & BI...those fields are relevant. I did receive a PM from someone who met her significant other on MySpace. That's a good story & its comforting to hear directly that MySpace has been valuable.
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730PM: I'm back home & the day is done. General feeling among those that were let go is they are glad to put this behind them so they can focus on the future. Those of us that are left are confused about what is in store for the future and how to continue to execute minus our former coworkers. Unofficial rumors are another round of layoffs happen in March. My expectation is that Myspace is being prepped to sell within the next few months and that process will include more restructuring. But who knows...plan for the worst, hope for the best. Now that I'm on a PC & not my iPhone I'll catch up with left over replies.
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http://www.reddit.com/r/I...ut_to_be_laid_off_today/
Social Media...here today, gone tomorrow.
Not everyone can be Facebook. Invest in REAL things people, the intangible is just that...