Photobucket Layoffs Today: One-Third of Staff Let Go; Other FIM Units Also Impacted
by Kara Swisher
Posted on June 25, 2009 at 2:19 PM PT
The layoffs at Fox Interactive Media moved on to Photobucket today, as one-third of its staff of about 120 were let go, sources close to the situation said.
The photo- and video-hosting service was bought for $250 million in mid-2007 by News Corp. (NWS).
A FIM spokesperson confirmed the layoffs after being contacted by BoomTown, but declined to give specific numbers. But sources told me a total of up to 75 people were fired.
“As part of our continuing review of each of the FIM business units, employees were informed of job cuts today at several of our sites. We made these cuts to ensure that our resources are aligned properly with our business goals, and at a scale that will enable us to operate as efficiently as possible,” said the FIM spokesperson.
It is all part of a series of job cuts that are now hitting FIM properties other than MySpace.
The social-networking site has seen massive layoffs over the last two weeks, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Photobucket was hardest kicked, with 35 people fired, while other properties, such as the IGN videogame and entertainment unit, had the other layoffs spread among them.
Cuts at IGN, for example, were minimal, and it was also hiring in other parts of its business.
FIM’s whole structure itself is undergoing a shift, along with a likely name change, as BoomTown previously reported.
(Full disclosure: News Corp. owns Dow Jones, which owns this site.)
