SeaChange Cuts Workers

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 3/15/2010 8:11:00 AM

ACTON, MASS. — SeaChange International said Thursday (March 11) that president and chief operating officer Ed Dunbar had left and Yvette Kanouff was promoted to president.

The company also said it laid off 3% to 4% of its workforce in a shift toward a software-oriented product mix and an effort to cut R&D expenses.

The video-on-demand and advertising vendor announced the changes Thursday in reporting results for the quarter and fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2010. SeaChange reported a $44,000 net profit for the most recent quarter, a 99% drop versus $4.8 million the year prior, while revenue declined 1.8%, to $53.0 million.

“The future of our company is software-centric; as a result we are taking various steps to position ourselves for further success in the software arena,” SeaChange chairman and CEO Bill Styslinger wrote in a letter to shareholders.

Added Styslinger: “It’s been a challenging week for us as we’ve said goodbye to a number of old friends.”

SeaChange also said Erwin van Dommelen has been promoted to president of SeaChange Software. He was president of eventIS Group, the Dutch VOD vendor SeaChange acquired last fall.

SeaChange last reported 1,046 employees as of January 2009. For the current quarter, the company anticipates severance charges of $1.5 million to $1.8 million related to headcount reductions. The company said roughly 60% of the layoffs occurred in its software business, while 20% were in corporate G&A and 20% were in the storage business.

Kanouff , 44, previously SeaChange’s chief strategy officer, will be responsible for the company’s business development, overall product strategy, product management, communications and investor relations. She joined the company in 1997.

Dunbar had joined SeaChange in April 2009. Previously he was general manager of Comcast’s Atlanta region and also spent five years as a vice president with Comcast Spotlight.