Brightcove: Oops, Forgot to Mention the Layoffs

Though we talked to Brightcove at the end of last week regarding their partnership platform announced today, we missed the fact that they made layoffs on Wednesday. That’s mostly our bad, since the layoffs — 25 out of 172 employees across multiple departments — were reported in FierceOnlineVideo on Friday, but it also speaks to the company’s relentless adherence to the PR story rather than reality, seeing as we had asked CEO Jeremy Allaire directly about how the economic downturn was affecting the company.

Brightcove maintained today that the layoffs — which actually happened last Wednesday — have nothing to do with the economic downturn and, rather, reflect a renewed focus on the company’s platform business. “We are, of course, being very conservative as we head into next year managing our spending,” said Director of Corporate Communication Josh Hawkins in an email. “But, the changes in our workforce reflect our strategic objectives for ‘09.”