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Brightcove Reduces and Reorganizes Staff, Denies Disarray

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Yesterday afternoon, Jeff Ray, CEO of Brightcove since April 2018, sent out a company-wide email announcing a "reduction in force." Ray didn't say how many employees were impacted, but called this a reorganization that would benefit the company's long-term growth strategy.

News 2"This morning, we completed a reduction in force. In support of further accelerating our breakout growth strategy, we are reorganizing certain roles to support a go forward business strategy for global expansion," Ray wrote.

StreamingMedia.com has been hearing reports for months of disarray within Brightcove, and this is the latest sign. A former sales professional who left Brightcove at the beginning of this year said Ray shifted the company's emphasis from media to enterprise, leaving many in media sales feeling pushed out. Our source estimates that 150 of the company's 500 employees left between April and the end of 2018. That source says between 20 and 25 were let go in this week's reduction.

In an interview with StreamingMedia.com, Brightcove CMO Sara Larsen declined to say how many employees were let go and how many were reassigned, and wouldn't comment on which offices saw changes. This wasn't a financial decision, she said, but a realignment for growth.

"We continue to build out our video capabilities to help multiple audiences across marketing and sales, corporate communications, media, the OTT space, regional broadcasters, helping them to grow their use of video," Larsen said. "That requires us to really think about how our organization is set up and where we have the right roles to fill that strategy and make it happen."

While Brightcove is a public company, the number of people let go, which Larsen called "minor," was not enough to mandate a disclosure.

Larsen denied Brightcove has shifted its emphasis from media to enterprise, but says under Ray it's moved from having two distinct business units to a "multi-audience-focused organization" that's key to the growth strategy. Our source says some senior jobs were eliminated, including a vice president of revenue marketing, a senior director of customer support, and a senior marketing director.

As for reports of sales professionals feeling pushed out, Larsen said Brightcove moved some positions from its London office to France, Germany, Spain, and the Middle East in order to be closer to customers. Employees were given the choice of moving with their jobs, but many chose to leave the company, instead.

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