Celebrity messaging service Cameo lays off staff due to post-lockdown hangover
bottom line: The pandemic has been a boom time for tech companies that have reaped the rewards of having people stay indoors and work from home, but with much of the world now out of lockdown, many firms are feeling the effects of a changing society, including messaging with celebrities. . Cameo app.
Cameo allows customers to pay for a personalized video message from a celebrity, whether it’s for a special occasion, an important milestone, or simply because it’s super cool. Prices tend to reflect the level of fame of the individual, with Caitlyn Jenner being the most expensive at over $2,500 per message, and Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox at around $700.
Due to the lockdown, Cameo’s popularity skyrocketed, bringing the number of employees from 100 to 400, and its revenue in 2020 increased by 4.5 times compared to the previous year. CEO Steven Galanis said the success was partly due to most of the actors using the platform after their film and TV projects were put on hold due to Covid.
But it looks like the good times are over. Protocol reports that 87 Cameo employees, including CTOs and CPOs, have been laid off. This is about a quarter of the total number of employees. The team responsible for music partnerships has reportedly seen major cutbacks, as well as its London offices and sales and marketing staff.
“We quickly hired a lot of people and the market conditions have changed quickly since then,” Galanis said. “Accordingly, we have streamlined the business to best reflect the new realities.”
Today was a terrible day at the office. I made the painful decision to let go of 87 of my favorite members of Cameo Fameo. If you want to hire hungry, humble, smart, kind, curious, learning machines who love to win – and you see a Cameo on their resume – look no further.
— Stephen Galanis (@Mr312) May 4, 2022
Galanis tweeted that the 87 members of “Cameo Fameo” had been fired and described it as a “cruel day at the office”. The post drew some criticism for its tone and the fact that Galanis uses an NFT avi that would have cost the same as three employees’ salaries. Previously, he was criticized for comparing Web3 to the colonization of America – in a good way.
Netflix is another company whose popularity has been declining since the pandemic. User counts dropped for the first time in a decade last quarter, and he fired most of his fan site Tudum staff, asking the question: Have we peaked subscriptions?