Corbis Laying Off Another 125 Employees
November 14, 2007
By Daryl Lang
Updated 3:50 p.m. ET
Stock photo agency Corbis plans to eliminate 125 jobs and close offices in eight markets in the first half of 2008, the company announced Wednesday. Among the casualties are Corbis's Chicago office.
The reductions are part of a plan to consolidate customer service and sales operations into two major centers, one in New York and another in London.
A Corbis spokesperson says the company will close eight of its 24 offices by June 2008. Offices are closing in Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg, Madrid, Chicago, Montreal, Melbourne and Singapore.
Corbis will maintain salespeople who work from home in these markets, as well as several others including San Francisco, Atlanta and Dallas. "In broad terms, our geographic reach is expanding," says Ivan Purdie, Corbis's senior vice president, sales and service.
The layoffs are related to the office closings and affect a variety of geographic locations, Purdie says.
This is the second round of layoffs at Corbis this year. It follows the announcement in June of 160 job cuts, or about 15 percent of the Corbis work force. The company closed its commercial assignment division earlier this year as new CEO Gary Shenk took over and began a restructuring effort designed to make the company profitable.
"Transforming our sales organization and customer service operations are critical to making us a more competitive player in the market," Shenk said in a statement Wednesday.
Last week Corbis announced that it is acquiring Veer, a competitor based in Calgary, Alberta. The layoffs announced Wednesday will not affect Veer, Corbis says.
Based in Seattle, Corbis is privately owned by Bill Gates and has always lost money. The company's four major brands now include Corbis, Corbis Rights Services, micropayment site SnapVillage, and Veer.
Stock photography agencies are feeling pressure from low-priced micropayment stock photo Web sites. Corbis rivals Getty Images and Jupitermedia have reported soft or declining revenues in some categories of stock imagery.
By Daryl Lang
Updated 3:50 p.m. ET
Stock photo agency Corbis plans to eliminate 125 jobs and close offices in eight markets in the first half of 2008, the company announced Wednesday. Among the casualties are Corbis's Chicago office.
The reductions are part of a plan to consolidate customer service and sales operations into two major centers, one in New York and another in London.
A Corbis spokesperson says the company will close eight of its 24 offices by June 2008. Offices are closing in Amsterdam, Brussels, Hamburg, Madrid, Chicago, Montreal, Melbourne and Singapore.
Corbis will maintain salespeople who work from home in these markets, as well as several others including San Francisco, Atlanta and Dallas. "In broad terms, our geographic reach is expanding," says Ivan Purdie, Corbis's senior vice president, sales and service.
The layoffs are related to the office closings and affect a variety of geographic locations, Purdie says.
This is the second round of layoffs at Corbis this year. It follows the announcement in June of 160 job cuts, or about 15 percent of the Corbis work force. The company closed its commercial assignment division earlier this year as new CEO Gary Shenk took over and began a restructuring effort designed to make the company profitable.
"Transforming our sales organization and customer service operations are critical to making us a more competitive player in the market," Shenk said in a statement Wednesday.
Last week Corbis announced that it is acquiring Veer, a competitor based in Calgary, Alberta. The layoffs announced Wednesday will not affect Veer, Corbis says.
Based in Seattle, Corbis is privately owned by Bill Gates and has always lost money. The company's four major brands now include Corbis, Corbis Rights Services, micropayment site SnapVillage, and Veer.
Stock photography agencies are feeling pressure from low-priced micropayment stock photo Web sites. Corbis rivals Getty Images and Jupitermedia have reported soft or declining revenues in some categories of stock imagery.
Labels: Amsterdam, Brussels, Chicago, Corbis, Hamberg, layoffs, Madrid, Melbourne, Montreal, Singapore
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