Bloomberg
has reported that Corbis will be cutting about 15% of its staff. The information came from an internal memo sent to employees by CEO Gary Shenk, and obtained by Bloomberg.
(Later information indicates that 154 people were let go which would mean that prior to the cuts Corbis had a staff of a little over 1,000 and after the cuts it has been reduced to about 850.)
The memo didn’t say how many people Corbis currently employs, but Shenk said he would relay a “new company structure later in the week.” According to Shenk Corbis “has suffered a significant downturn” in performance starting in mid-2014.
Not only have image sales declined, but profits from Corbis’ new (
Branded Entertainment Network) (BEN),
launched in April 2014, “haven’t materialized fast enough to make up for the downturn” in the image division according to Shenk.
It appears that Corbis will be down grading its image licensing business and placing more emphasis on the company’s Entertainment Division and the Branded Entertainment Network. Shenk wrote, “This week, we will be launching a long-term strategic plan to support these objectives (BEN), as well as taking major steps to restructure the organization in support of this strategy.”
Last week in New York rumors were flying that Corbis is interested in selling all or part of its image licensing business. Stay tuned for who the bidders might be.