Game over? Heavily-funded iPad device maker Discovery Bay Games vanishes without explanation

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It looks like time has run out on Discovery Bay Games, a Seattle-based maker of gaming accessories and add-ons for tablet computers. Sources tell GeekWire that the company closed its doors in May. We contacted Bob Belknap, VP of Finance at Discovery Bay Games, but he would neither confirm nor deny the closure. Belknap said he “couldn’t… Read More…

Zynga trims Seattle office

Zynga's mission statement adorns the wall at the company's Seattle office

Zynga’s 2-year-old Seattle engineering office was largely spared in the game maker’s most recent layoff announcement, especially when compared to other branch offices that were reportedly shut down. But the layoffs of 18 percent of Zynga’s workforce are still having an impact in Seattle, though fairly minimal. According to a filing with the State of Washington’s… Read More…

Report: Zulily rival Totsy is going down the tubes

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Did Totsy just tumble? That’s the word from PandoDaily, which reports that the money-losing New York-based flash sales site is chopping its staff of 83 and looking to sell its list of four million email subscribers. That could mean one less competitor for Zulily, the fast-growing Seattle e-commerce giant which, like Totsy, specializes in selling… Read More…

Digital marketing firm AudienceScience trims staff

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AudienceScience is cutting staff again. The Bellevue digital marketing company, formerly known as Revenue Science and digiMine, has laid off employees. “AudienceScience had a small strategic layoff to further align employee skillsets with its enterprise technology offering,” the company said in a statement. The company declined to say how many people were let go, though… Read More…

What’s up with Lockerz? Heavily-funded startup mum on new fashion site Ador

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Lockerz appears to be unlocking its next chapter. The Seattle social commerce startup is behind a service called Ador, a new online fashion site where shoppers can “get new arrivals & sales alerts from your favorite stores.” A job posting and trademark filing indicates that Lockerz is affiliated with Ador. The job posting, for an iOS… Read More…

Cheezburger cuts 35% of staff as it looks to make transition from desktop to mobile

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Cheezburger today announced that it is cutting 24 employees, or about 35 percent of its staff, as it struggles with the changing economics of more people viewing content on mobile devices. “We have seen a pretty big transition in our audience from desktop to mobile, and we are going to continue to see that for… Read More…

Is this the end of the road for Ignition-backed Ratify?

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Bellevue-based Ratify, a stealthy startup that was developing a data analytics platform to better understand network information, notified employees this week that it is ceasing operations, according to a source who was familiar with the changes. It’s unclear why the company pulled the plug, or what’s next for the Ratify technology. However, the company’s Web… Read More…

Mobile analytics startup Medio trims staff in ‘realignment’

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Medio laid off a number of employees in engineering, network operations and testing this week as the Seattle mobile analytics startup undergoes what CEO Robert Lilleness describes as a “realignment.” The news comes just a few days after Medio co-founder David Bluhm returned to the company as chief marketing officer, one of several new executive… Read More…

Layoffs hit Memory Lane, operator of Classmates.com

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Memory Lane, the social networking site that operates Classmates.com, has laid off staffers at its offices in the Seattle area, sources tell GeekWire. We’ve reached out to Memory Lane’s parent company, United Online, for comment and we will update this post as we learn more. We’re hearing that positions were eliminated in a number of… Read More…

Seeking a new combination, social commerce startup Lockerz confirms cutbacks

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Lockerz, the heavily-funded social commerce startup, has reportedly laid off a chunk of its staff and closed down an office in San Diego. TechCrunch reports that about 30 percent of the staff at the headquarters in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood lost their jobs in the restructuring, including chief product officer Michael Walton. We’ve reached out… Read More…

Clearwire CEO hints at layoffs, as investor boosts stake to repel ‘unfair’ Sprint acquisition

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Clearwire CEO Erik Prusch met with employees this week to reassure them that even though Sprint has offered to buy the company for $2.2 billion, it remains “business as usual” until the deal is completed next year. Prusch also addressed the jobs of workers, pointing them to a FAQ related to the pending transaction. As… Read More…

LivingSocial cuts 400 staffers, Seattle office takes a hit

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LivingSocial, the Washington D.C.-based daily deals site, has laid off 400 staffers as it aims to turn a profit, a spokesperson tells All Things D. That amounts to a 10 percent cutback, leaving the company with about 4,100 employees. Backed by Amazon.com, LivingSocial operates a branch office in Seattle, which we’ve heard was impacted in… Read More…

Poor earnings leads to Glu layoffs at Kirkland studio

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A lowered fourth quarter guidance has sent the stock of San Francisco-based game publisher Glu south and resulted in layoffs at its Kirkland office. On the company’s Nov. 2 conference call, Glu announced that it would hold total R&D investment flat between 2012 and 2013. As a result, the company restructured and the president of… Read More…

CityGrid Media cuts staff, but Urbanspoon keeps growing

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CityGrid Media, the parent company of Urbanspoon, Insider Pages, Buzz Labs and Citysearch, announced today that it is cutting 15 percent of its staff in a shift of advertising models from cost-per-click to cost-per-acquisition, reports TechCrunch. The move comes six months after SeamlessWeb co-founder Jason Finger was appointed CEO. TechCrunch notes that the layoffs are… Read More…

Paul Allen-backed news aggregator Evri calls it quits

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Evri has met the end of the road. The Seattle startup, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has decided to wind down its commercial offerings, focusing now on R&D efforts, GeekWire has learned. “Evri has made the decision to change course and look for other applications of its patented semantic technologies,” said former CEO Will… Read More…

Social media agency Spring Creek Group cuts staff

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Nearly a year after it was acquired by Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands unit, Seattle social media agency Spring Creek Group has laid off a significant number of employees. We’ve reached out to the company to get more details on the restructuring, and we’ll update the post as we learn more. We’ve heard up to 40 percent of… Read More…

PopCap pulls plug on Dublin office, cutting 96 jobs

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PopCap Games is cutting back even further, announcing today that it closed its offices in Dublin, Ireland. Ninety-six employees are losing their jobs as a result of the closure, which should not come as a surprise. At the time of last month’s announcement, the maker of Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled said it was considering shutting down the Ireland… Read More…

Data I/O reduces staff

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Data I/O, a 40-year-old Redmond company that makes device programming and IP management technologies for the wireless, consumer electronics and automotive industries, announced today that it is undergoing a restructuring in which employees and contractors are losing their jobs. The company didn’t say how many people are affected in the restructuring, which is expected to reduce quarterly… Read More…

RealNetworks to run divisions as standalone units in possible prelude to bigger moves

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RealNetworks plans to start running three of its divisions as standalone business units, saying it wants to make them more accountable for their own financial and operational performance. The company’s RealPlayer, Software as a Service and Games units will become more autonomous as a result of the changes. RealNetworks declined to comment beyond a regulatory… Read More…