Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Spot Runner Lays Off 50 In Shift

Los Angeles-based Spot Runner, which operates a service which helps businesses create and buy television and other advertising, has laid off 50 employees in what the firm describes as a realignment of the firm's business. Rosabel Tao, the firm's VP of Corporate Communications, confirmed the layoffs, saying that the firm is actively hiring, but trimmed the positions because it found that it needed a different skill set as it has been realigning along three lines of business. The employees laid off represent about 10 percent of the company. Spot Runner has been moving beyond its original focus on creating television advertising for small businesses, to expand to serving bigger companies and placing both online, radio, and print advertising. The firm said it has open reqs for 40-50 people in new positions. Spot Runner has raised around $111M in venture funding, most recently raising $51M in May; the company said that the layoffs were not due to financial reasons, that the firm has "plenty of money," and that the cuts were due to a strategic and business decision to be more focused on its businesses.