NFT Marketplace OpenSea Lays Off 20% of Its Staff (techcrunch.com) 23
NFT marketplace OpenSea announced today that it's laying off around 20% of the company's employees. TechCrunch reports: "... [T]he reality is that we have entered an unprecedented combination of crypto winter and broad macroeconomic instability, and we need to prepare the company for the possibility of a prolonged downturn," OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer said in a message shared with staff that he posted publicly on Twitter as well. The company did not specify exactly how many employees were impacted by the decision, but the company's LinkedIn page indicates the company has around 750+ employees currently. Finzer says that impacted employees will be receiving severance and health insurance "into 2023" as well as accelerated equity vesting.
The layoffs raise questions about the company's aggressive growth tactics and how they approached the sustainability of the NFT sector's breakneck growth. In his note to staff, Finzer says the company has years of runway ahead of it with these changes, assuming things don't get even bleaker. "The changes we're making today put us in a position to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios (5 years at the current volume), and give us high confidence that we will only have to go through this process once," Finzer writes, later adding, "Winter is our time to build."
The layoffs raise questions about the company's aggressive growth tactics and how they approached the sustainability of the NFT sector's breakneck growth. In his note to staff, Finzer says the company has years of runway ahead of it with these changes, assuming things don't get even bleaker. "The changes we're making today put us in a position to maintain multiple years of runway under various crypto winter scenarios (5 years at the current volume), and give us high confidence that we will only have to go through this process once," Finzer writes, later adding, "Winter is our time to build."
NFTs.. (Score:5, Insightful)
As valuable as salt and water in the Open Sea...
Re: (Score:2)
Water without salt is actually extremely valuable on the Open Sea. Unlike an NFT without a picture.
Grumpy Cat says: (Score:1)
Good.
(Bite me post length filter, I've come down with Covid-19 and my brain hurts too much to write a novel on why the sooner NFTs die in a fire, the better.)
No worries (Score:4, Funny)
I hear GameStop is planning on hiring them all - and giving them 100% raises!
Re: (Score:2)
And pay them in NFTs!
Ohnoes! Will my ape pictures be worthless? (Score:1)
I invested all my life savings, pension plan, childrens savings , personal loan and my companies money in a picture of an ape picking his nose.
Pick the date opensea goes offline (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I say 2022/12/27, you can't renew a domain without money.
more concentrated grift (Score:2)
It is important to keep the grift concentrated.
Re: (Score:2)
NFTs are garbage but both ETH and BTC are staying a long course and proving their worth at least in the eyes of investors. We've done a few cycles of this and yes, there is still strong buying even after the last massive drop. But don't mistake the fact that billions of dollars are already invested in the two most popular tokens with what might happen with random NFTs that have yet to show any kind of resilience. There are no reputable financial groups out there investing in NFTs.
Re: (Score:2)
If BTC, NFTs, and ETH is "done for" then why have 52,000 Bitcoins been bought out?
Some 'market maker' seems to be supporting BTC at an oddly-steady-for-crypto 20,000 for the past few weeks. What happens when this operation, like all the other pump-and-dumps, runs out of money?
Re: (Score:2)
Perhaps it might just be something similar, a TARP 2.0, just to stave off global economic collapse if BTC goes under?
Why would there be any global economic collapse if BTC goes under?
Re: (Score:3)
It's the fantasy story that BTC 'enthusiasts' tell each other to feel more relevant.
"The reality is that ..." (Score:3)
... their business model is based on selling worthless tokens that can't even maintain their perceived value while the NFT hype phase is still going
Dot com crash in slow motion (Score:3)
Kids who have missed the Dot Com crash in 2000 now have the chance to experience it! Watch as crypto companies that have nothing but hot air go bust one after another.
Fortunately we haven't got to the point where the crypto bubble gobbled up non-crypto companies like the AOL bought up Time Warner, the crash might be less catastrophic for the general public.
Re: (Score:2)
Arguably Open Sea filled an actually useful space in the whole crypto landscape by facilitating the easy selling and buying of Crypto Things (TM).
Like a company facilitating trading pet rocks.
Cheer all you want but.. (Score:2)
The tragedy (Score:4, Insightful)
NFT seems to have taken a nosedive surprisingly (Score:2)
LOL! (Score:1)