San Francisco-based online media marketplace OneMediaPlace cut “at least” 36 positions prior to its merger with Mediapassage, a transaction which closed Monday night.
A spokesman for the enlarged Mediapassage said that OneMediaPlace had executed a “large number” of layoffs in the weeks since the two companies announced their intention to merge in January.
The merger was to combine OneMediaPlace’s front-end planning and purchasing functions — and strength in Web and outdoor media — with Mediapassage’s back-end systems for print and broadcast media.
Most of the recent cuts were “media channel positions primarily,” said spokesman Carl Bryant. The layoffs also included “anybody that was in [OneMediaPlace’s] business operations-type side or corporate accounting.”
The completed Seattle-based company has about 200 employees currently. Previously, executives from the companies anticipated that it would take the name “OneMediaPassage,” though spokespeople said the name “Mediapassage” was thought to have greater brand equity.
Executives again waved away suggestions that the across-the-board media slowdown was the impetus for the union; instead, they painted it as a natural evolution for the two firms.
“The combined capabilities of these two companies enables Mediapassage to deliver a broader set of services to our customers,” said Mediapassage chairman and chief executive Gilbert Scherer. “We are particularly excited about adding Web-based pricing to our e-commerce platform which strengthens our position in the evolving media e-marketplace.”
Despite what Mediapassage says is its relative good health, and in spite of several recent acquisitions — which include not only OneMediaPlace but broadcastspots.com in September of last year — Bryant says that the company is likely done growing for now.
“The market continues to shake out as companies are unable to raise survival capital,” he said. However, “opportunities that are made available will still be considered, but … companies would have to come with a revenue stream. We don’t need any more ‘capabilities’ companies. We don’t need any more ‘possibilities’ companies.
“We’re going to finish this integration, integrate the Web RFP-negotiating [system] that they’ve built, and continue to grow our business,” Bryant added. “In this world of advertising downturns, we’re really not seeing [slowing growth] from our customers.”
