SeaChange Cuts More Staff After 30% Revenue Decline in Q2

Acton, Mass.-based video software and services vendor SeaChange International announced another round of layoffs following a fiscal second quarter revenue decline of 30.4% to $11.9 million.

The company’s losses in the quarter nearly quadrupled to $8.3 million, as customers held off on renewing SeaChange software subscriptions.

“Some transactions that we expected in Q2 did not happen during the quarter and were delayed,” said SeaChange CEO Ed Terino at Wednesday’s investment analyst call. (Transcript courtesy of Seeking Alpha.) “These delays resulted from customers moving more slowly on video platform investment decisions because there was little urgency to make an upgrade or expand their video platform and our customers opted to prioritize other investments outside of their video delivery ecosystems.”

SeaChange didn’t specify how many workers are affected, but the company said it would save around $6 million from a restructuring that would involve mostly staff cuts and be completed by the end of the company’s third fiscal 2019 quarter.

From 2016 through this year, SeaChange more than halved its workforce, from around 660 employees to approximately 300. And as noted by Light Reading—which was the first to report on SeaChange’s staff cuts—the company moved software coding operations from the Philippines to Poland.

Terino did identify some green shoots. SeaChange booked two transactions that “were significant in revenue” but came in too late to be counted against the Q2 bottom line.

“We also booked $1 million in advertising software and equipment with the Tier 1 telco that needed to expand their advertising platform due to the growth of their advertising activity,” he said.

“In addition, we expect Liberty Global will make additional purchase related to their one back office initiative in the second half of fiscal 2019. We also have several PanoramiC opportunities in the second half of fiscal 2019,” Terino added. 

Daniel Frankel

Daniel Frankel is the managing editor of Next TV, an internet publishing vertical focused on the business of video streaming. A Los Angeles-based writer and editor who has covered the media and technology industries for more than two decades, Daniel has worked on staff for publications including E! Online, Electronic Media, Mediaweek, Variety, paidContent and GigaOm. You can start living a healthier life with greater wealth and prosperity by following Daniel on Twitter today!