On-demand video platform lays off 130 employees

folarin okunola

October 22, 2015 12:55 PM

CEO Jason Njoku, says the downsizing is part of a larger restructuring that will see the company move personnel and resources to other parts of the business as well as move operations that need stronger infrastructure to its New York office.

Jason Njoku, CEO iROKO TV

Jason Njoku, iROKOtv CEO, has confirmed that the company is letting 130 employees at its Lagos office go.

According to a report by Techmoran yesterday, the company is cutting down on staffing in an effort to crack profitability.

Techcabal reports that Njoku also confirmed that the company is indeed laying off employees, stating that the process has been an aggressive downsizing that started a few months back.

“We’ve had to say goodbye to valued team members from the Lagos office over the past few months,” Njoku told Techcabal. “Mainly our Lagos based offline marketing department were affected – we’re reducing numbers in that area of the company and approximately 130 staff have been let go.”

Njoku says the downsizing is part of a larger restructuring that will see the company move personnel and resources to other parts of the business as well as move operations that need stronger infrastructure to its New York office.

READ: On-demand video platform shuts down website, goes mobile-only in Africa

“There are some roles which required stronger infrastructure (moving large files) and experienced hands so we shifted them outside Lagos,” says Njoku.

This will be the first major restructuring at iROKOtv since it announced that it was switching from PC and mobile streaming to a mobile-only discovery and download platform back in July.

Njoku also says the company has increased head count in other departments as the offline marketing team leaves the company. The company has hired 13 new persons to add to the four it had over the past few months (six in New York, 11 in Lagos).

“We have also built out our product and design groups too,” he said.

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