TripleLift Confirms Staff, Salary Cuts Amid Wave of Industry Austerity

TripleLift, one of the leading lights of independent ad tech, has confirmed to Adweek that it shed 7% of its global headcount earlier today. The reduction in staffing was also accompanied by an unspecified number of furloughs. News of the cutbacks emerged following a virtual all-hands where leadership informed attendees of the reduction in headcount, saying it was necessary as the company braced for an austere quarter. Advertisers across multiple industry verticals are pressing pause on campaigns, sending revenue projections plunging. According to TripleLift, today's cutbacks consisted of layoffs with the remainder consisting of furloughs and compensation reduction for both staff and management. Company leadership confirmed that they took the biggest reduction in remuneration in terms of percentage. TripleLift's management is characterizing its latest measures as disciplined operational decisions. The goal is that these maneuvers will balance the short- and long-term performance of its operations in what are truly uncharted waters for the global economy. According to its LinkedIn page, the company has 334 employees, with most of them concentrated in the New York area. At one point, the industry was awash with speculation that TripleLift had cut 40% of its global headcount, but the company’s leadership was quick to quell such rumors by proactively confirming the 7% figure on industry discussion forums. As recently as mid-February, TripleLift claimed 2019 was a "record year" with $300 million in revenue when it announced two appointments to its C-suite: Julia Shullman as general counsel and chief privacy officer, and Jordan Bitterman as CMO. However, the ongoing coronavirus crisis has prompted advertisers across many verticals to press pause on spend. An emailed statement from the company read, “We have made the difficult decision to initiate a round of layoffs and furloughs affecting some of our team. It is never easy to say goodbye to employees. "However, this move puts us in a place to navigate the downturn with positive cash flow, while maintaining our product roadmap and continuing to service our customers. We have always made disciplined operational decisions that balance the short- and long-term performance of our company. This approach has enabled us to thrive over the past eight years, and will now help us manage through this highly unusual moment. We remain steadfastly confident in our mission and our future." Ad-tech executives are not the only sector of the media industry facing such tough decisions, with many opting to introduce temporary pay cuts instead of making wholesale layoffs.