Live data from Hacker News

Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

news.ycombinator.com

261–270 of 522 posts

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#261
Is there a solid source for this?

Vimeo laid off most of their operation in Israel recently.[1] At least according to "www.calcalistech.com", which seems to be some minor news source in Israel. Their comment was that the office was damaged in a recent war. Rebuilding may not have been worth it.

Their headquarters is in New York.

[1] https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/sjtjgbabzx

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#262
I was planning to use Vimeo for some video hosting... I guess I'll have to self-host now. Oh well. At least this happened before I actually committed to buying a plan or even creating an account. With private equity poisoning the well like this I'll probably be better off hosting my videos in AWS; doubt anybody will be buying them anytime soon.

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#263
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading through the other comments about bending spoons and reading yours again: the bending spoons CEO is technically telling the truth! They intend to run the acquired companies forever. After cutting most of the staff, but he didn’t say that part of course.

I wouldn't even say it's "technically" the truth. It's just the truth. Nothing in the statement even comes close to implying that there wouldn't be layoffs. Hell, one of the quotes even mentions "focus", which if anything is a euphemism or hint for downsizing in these kinds of statements, not the opposite.

Try to be innovative without staff though...

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't even say it's "technically" the truth. It's just the truth. Nothing in the statement even comes close to implying that there wouldn't be layoffs. Hell, one of the quotes even mentions "focus", which if anything is a euphemism or hint for downsizing in these kinds of statements, not the opposite.

"excited about this partnership, which we believe will unlock even greater focus for our team and customers as we continue to strive towards our global mission to be the most innovative and trusted video platform in the world for businesses" There's no hint of laying off all the staff here though. Now it sounds like they "were" excited to lay off people to maximize profits. Maybe "unlock even greater focus for our te…

> There's no hint of laying off all the staff here though. Now it sounds like they "were" excited to lay off people to maximize profits.

What? Just because a statement says "we're excited to do X" doesn't mean they're not also planning to do A, B, C, Y and Z.

I'm not defending the layoff. It just seems weird to interpret the statement itself as somehow being misleading about a subject that it literally didn't mention.

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The economics are different because the industries are fundamentally different. Software is never "finished" the way a building is finished. More features can always be added to software. If those new features create new product lines and attract new revenue, then the software engineers' salaries are more than paying for themselves. But, this obviously carries risk, that the new thing you develop won't be worth as mu…

> Software is never "finished" Software may never be finished (in your opinion) but the budget of any customer is finite. If you keep reinvesting your revenue forever into "engineering" the product there's going to be a time where a competitor comes in with a finished product matching your customers' requirements and snatches him from you by both charging less and making a profit.

The number of customers is, effectively, infinite though. YouTube continues to be engineered and continues to grow. It could have, realistically, been finished over a decade ago. But they repeated branch out into new markets with new features, and that seems to work from them.

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#267
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After reading through the other comments about bending spoons and reading yours again: the bending spoons CEO is technically telling the truth! They intend to run the acquired companies forever. After cutting most of the staff, but he didn’t say that part of course.

I wouldn't even say it's "technically" the truth. It's just the truth. Nothing in the statement even comes close to implying that there wouldn't be layoffs. Hell, one of the quotes even mentions "focus", which if anything is a euphemism or hint for downsizing in these kinds of statements, not the opposite.

A reasonable person, when told "Company A is buying and will operate Company B," would interpret that as "all of Company B" including its assets, liabilities, cash, property, patents, AND employees. They would not think "Well, ackshually, they're just buying the corporate entity itself, which doesn't technically involve keeping the employees..."

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#268
For all the valid criticism of Bending Spoon's business model, I'd like to raise another point.

They haven't extorted these companies from the previous shareholders and founders. They paid for those.

We talking about multi millionaires deciding to throw away their life's work, their customers, their teams to become even wealthier very well knowing what the fate was going to be.

But that crowd isn't even mentioned.

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#269
post #172

From the previous press about the aquisition: BendingSpoon CEO: "At Bending Spoons, we acquire companies with the expectation of owning and operating them indefinitely, and we look forward to realizing Vimeo’s full potential as we reach new heights together" Vimeo CEO: "We are excited about this partnership, which we believe will unlock even greater focus for our team and customers as we continue to strive towards ou…

Nothing the bending spoons ceo said isn’t true. They are still operating Vimeo.

I worked at one of the companies that were acquired by Bending Spoons and really the only positive things I can say about them is: They are honest and stick to their word.

It's a shitty business model, run by people who do not, in any way shape or form, care about people at all. But they are honest.

So if you work at a company and BS comes knocking: relax, accept the severance money and start looking for something new. It will be over soon. And you also don't want to stay even if offered because it will be an entirely alien environment where only people of a certain character can work.

Re: Tell HN: Bending Spoons laid off almost everybody at Vimeo yesterday

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't even say it's "technically" the truth. It's just the truth. Nothing in the statement even comes close to implying that there wouldn't be layoffs. Hell, one of the quotes even mentions "focus", which if anything is a euphemism or hint for downsizing in these kinds of statements, not the opposite.

A reasonable person, when told "Company A is buying and will operate Company B," would interpret that as "all of Company B" including its assets, liabilities, cash, property, patents, AND employees. They would not think "Well, ackshually, they're just buying the corporate entity itself, which doesn't technically involve keeping the employees..."

Any reasonable person who has paid attention to business news over their lifetime would not be surprised to see layoffs following a corporate acquisition.
Post reply on HN