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Edward is the former editor of Adotas.

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Before that, he was metro editor and city editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, where he was in charge of local news. Besides managing daily content, including multimedia, he oversaw investigative stories. He also led a team in revamping the group's website.

Before that, he was a reporter and blogger, covering business, politics and government for newspapers in New York and California.

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Layoffs:The Holiday Spirit Dies

Written on
Dec 16, 2008 
Author
Edward Barrera  |
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Layoffs:The Holiday Spirit Dies

ADOTAS – Ominous news about Zango has emerged that is sure to send shockwaves through the interactive advertising industry.  *The online media shop will be shutting down its shop in Tel Aviv effective Jan. 15, according to the company.

According to a report in a business pub based in Israel, Globes, 51 Zango employees were affected by the closure. In June, Zango laid off 75 workers, 20 of whom were based in Israel, blaming the grim economic climate on the firings.

A Zango blog post says, “A small number of employees will stay on past that date to transition operations, marketing and technology, among other functions to its North American offices in Bellevue and Montreal. Several key Tel Aviv-based positions will be redeployed and upwards of a dozen positions will be open in North America.”

This continues a brutal month in the tech world. More than 30,000 worldwide have lost their jobs in December alone. Yahoo, ATT, SONY and Alcatel-Lucent were some of the biggest companies with obviously the largest numbers of layoffs. For the hardiest readers, the last several months of layoffs can be seen here as well as a Twitter gathering.

Even companies that seemed to be doing well, like Gawker, are laying off people, with the reasoning that, ‘yeah things are good now, but wait until next year.’  Giaia Online, a social network/virtual world hybrid, laid off 13 percent of its staff, about 36 employees, after raising $11 million in July.

But at least there is still some who are able to laugh in the midst of the crisis. Valleywag has comments from those laid off, including this one:

“I too received the tell-tale call yesterday, December 9th. It’s interesting how the script was posted on valleywag.com, since that is EXACTLY what my manager said to me. LOL! I too find it interesting that the position I was hired for was being cut due to “reduction is workforce” and yet that very same position is currently posted on Hotjobs…”

Oops, on the Hotjobs posting. I will note, as someone who spent months looking for a job, that some hotjob postings are months out of date. I knew people who were hired for positions and in the jobs for weeks, but the slot was still being offered on the site.

Of course, the month is not over. So who knows if, despite the Christmas holiday coming next week, there will be even more layoffs. But under the heading of schadenfreude, some might like this list of the top ten tech losers. They’re all still rich, just not as rich as they were a short time ago, and at least the 24-year-old wonderboy is now just a piddling multimillionaire.

*Corrected from an earlier version of the story.

– Express your opinion, comment below





Reader Comments.

I’m doing business with hotbar and they just paused all their campaigns and i got an email from my contact saying they are closing their office. hit the nail on the head. Good work Ed. Good article.

Posted by Sam Hakim | 3:40 pm on December 16, 2008.

Intergi is currently hiring sales people, the largest ad rep firm dedicated to gaming and entertinament..

Posted by Intergi | 4:43 pm on December 16, 2008.

The world is different today compared to the past (compared to even just a year ago). The constant march of technology makes it possible for a smaller work force to do virtually the same job as a larger workforce. As white collar employees are handed pink slips, an employer like a Zango or a Yahoo may be prudent to generously retain their e-mail records. The records are a valuable asset to the employer, relating to intellectual property, project management, customer relationships and more. –Ben

Posted by Benjamin Wright | 11:23 pm on December 16, 2008.

yeah, sony pictures division too. home entertainment has gotten rid off or moved several senior sales and business devel guys. more coming!!!

Posted by ian | 8:38 am on December 17, 2008.

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