Current Media, a cable television company co-founded by former US vice president Al Gore, announced Wednesday that it is cutting 80 jobs as part of a reorganization. The layoffs, which will leave Current with some 300 employees worldwide, come seven months after the San Francisco-based startup shelved plans for a 100-million-dollar initial public offering, citing market conditions.In a statement on Wednesday, Current said it was canceling several television programs and shifting the focus of its programming away from short-form content to longer formats.
"As a result of these cancellations, and the shift away from a reliance on daily in-house production, Current Media eliminated 80 positions worldwide associated with the affected programs and related support personnel," it said.
"This re-organization was not the result of a need to cut costs," the statement stressed. "Current Media will have its most profitable year.
"This financial stability will allow the company to re-allocate resources in order to put further emphasis on areas of the business believed to best position Current Media for continued long-term growth," Current said.
Current Media, founded in 2005, operates Current TV, which reaches more than 50 million households in Britain and the United States, and a youth-focused website Current.com, where users can submit their own content.