
MySpace Reduces Staff by Nearly 30% - sanj
http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/BW/20090616006096_univ.xml
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seldo
The most surprising thing about the MySpace layoffs is not that they fired 500
people but that they had 1500 people to start with. Facebook is bigger
(worldwide) and significantly more complicated and has fewer people than they
have, even after the layoffs.

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alex_c
I don't know how big Facebook is today, but I know last year they were aiming
for 1000 employees by December. That's about the same size.

~~~
seldo
They are at about 850 right now, last I heard, and I assume they have slowed
hiring a little given the economy, but I could be wrong.

Either way, it means that before the layoffs MySpace was 50% bigger than
Facebook, which is pretty amazing.

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quoderat
Now for Facebook to do the same thing.

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drusenko
I don't see any reason to downvote this comment. I think it's fairly accepted
that both Facebook and MySpace were hiring ahead of their growth. Neither site
seems to currently need its entire staff, and could probably run at 50% staff
capacity.

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bretthoerner
Doesn't every venture backed startup hire ahead of their growth? If Facebook
only "ran" since 2005 the site would lack a lot of features.

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larryfreeman
This is not a good sign. They hire suits to take charge, kick out the
founders, and now they are going to run it like a startup.

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jonursenbach
MySpace will never run like a startup, no matter its size.

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larryfreeman
Hi Jon,

I was responding to a quote in the article:

"Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on
our user and our product."

I took this to mean that they are trying to move to a start up environment.

From my experience, layoffs don't lead to innovation or an ability to center
on users. They just reduce financial overhead and greatly impact short term
morale.

~~~
jpwagner
Being centered around user and product is _business_. Just because startup is
your favorite buzzword does not mean it's applicable. I believe that would be
Jon's inarticulate point.

Granted layoffs themselves do not lead to innovation, but they get more
visibility to people like us (not in the know) than the likely new hires
(fresh ideas) that accompany them which may lead to innovation.

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jonursenbach
What I was trying to say was that MySpace has always run like a large faceless
corporation, and that trying to move to run like a startup will not work
because the precedent just doesn't exist.

Sure you can argue that "Tom" was the face of the corporation, but we all know
that to be a ridiculous lie.

~~~
jpwagner
Hey man, Tom is my friend...

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larryfreeman
Just curious. Why the negatives?

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larryfreeman
This is a real shame. Hacker News is one of my favorite sites. I respect
anyone's right to dock my comment.

But to dock a comment where I am interested in feedback is a real shame. It
goes against the culture here.

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kqr2
I didn't downmod you either, but I think that in general people don't like
comments about mod points. Although you weren't complaining, from the
guidelines:

 _Resist complaining about being downmodded. It never does any good, and it
makes boring reading._

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larryfreeman
Thanks for clarification. I stand corrected. I appreciate you adding the quote
on Hacker News policy.

