Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/04/visto_job_cuts/
BlackBerry rival Visto pushes job cuts
A third of London office gets the chop
Posted in Mobile, 4th April 2008 07:02 GMT
Visto, the Silicon Valley push email developer, told London staff on Thursday that about one third are for the chop, because financial backers are demanding a profit this year.
The London round of cuts is described by sources as "large scale", affecting senior IT staff, development, product services and pre-sales workers. A Visto US representative today confirmed "limited lay-offs" worldwide, but declined to talk numbers or locations.
Visto also has offices in Madrid, Milan and Paris.
Sources say the Redwood City-based firm is under big pressure to start bringing returns on the $300m-plus venture funding sunk over several rounds into the company, which was set up in 1996. The privately-held firm has announced its intention to IPO four times in four years (http://valleywag.com/tech/deathwatch/visto-announces-ipo-plans-for-fourth-consecutive-year-313683.php).
"I guess our share options won't be worth much now either, huh," said one source. "We're all on the job hunt here - never seen so many job website pages open in one place before."
In recent years Visto has launched a series of patent litigations against RIM (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/06/rim_patent_ruling/), Microsoft (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/15/visto_microsoft_patent_infringement/), Seven Networks (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/10/patents_settled/), and Good Technology (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/visto_sues_good/). ®