Indie Agency The Many Lays Off Roughly Half Its Staff

Los Angeles-based agency The Many has confirmed to Adweek that it has undergone multiple rounds of job cuts. The indie shop declined to comment on how many employees it laid off, but multiple sources with knowledge of the layoffs indicated to Adweek that nearly half of the agency was let go. The first round of layoffs occurred in April following the loss of a key client, which multiple sources told Adweek was Google. The second, more significant round, took place Friday and resulted in dozens of employees being let go. In a statement to Adweek, co-founder Christian Jacobsen said, "I can regretfully confirm that we’ve made adjustments to the agency." Prior to Friday's round of layoffs, the agency was around 130 employees, and is now down to about 90 employees, Jacobsen told Adweek. One source told Adweek the second round of layoffs was expected, but "was way more significant than any of us thought." Sources told Adweek that leadership explained to employees the second round was the result of restructuring the agency, and not client losses. Inside Advertising’s War for Talent Jacobsen told Adweek the shop experienced "hypergrowth" and "built believing the economic growth of 2021 would continue through 2022. We don't believe this will be the case." The agency, originally named Mistress, was started in 2010 by Jacobsen and four co-founders Damien Eley, Scott Harris, Blake E. Marquis and Jens Stoelken. It merged with Supermoon in 2017, and renamed itself as The Many in 2019. The Many's current clients include eBay, Bumble Bee Seafood and Glenlivet. Multiple sources told Adweek that agency leaders gave employees similar talking points as the statement Jacobsen provided Adweek (which can be read in its entirety below) during a company-wide Zoom call on Friday. Affected employees were then notified in one-on-one Zoom calls. Across the tech world, numerous companies have laid off thousands of workers, most notably Getir, Carvana, and Klarna, which cut more than 7,500 workers combined. Multiple industry sources told Adweek they expect more agencies to follow suit and make significant reductions in staffing. Below is Jacobsen's full statement on the layoffs: "Anytime we in advertising have to make an adjustment to our forces it’s more than an unpleasant thing. It’s terrible. These are human beings, not machines or products going down an assembly line. At this shop, we care for our people dearly and we take these moments extra seriously. Still, agencies must always make adjustments. Clients no longer last forever and any economic uncertainty will eventually hit our sector as we’re downstream and often the first place companies will pull back from when they need to preserve cash. "Last year, we experienced hypergrowth and, not unlike many of those companies you’ve read about in the press recently, built believing the economic growth of 2021 would continue through 2022. We don't believe this will be the case. "We’ve been watching both the markets and the general economic indicators and recognize it is confusing for everyone. Yet, we’re now seeing hesitation show up in our pipelines and we’re airing on the cautious side expecting it will likely get worse for our industry. We’ve therefore made the very difficult decision to restructure the agency for what we think is to come and what our clients will need from us. The reduction is a result of our transition into a new, more simplified operating model and while this is hard on us emotionally, the agency and our clients will be better for it."

Independent Agencies

Indie Agency The Many Lays Off Roughly Half Its Staff

The shop employs about 90 people after two rounds of dismissals, first in April and another on Friday

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