Playbuzz Lays Off 25 Employees Citing Organizational Restructuring

Interactive content company Playbuzz Ltd. is letting go 25 of its 180 employees citing organizational restructuring. In an interview with Calcalist on Sunday, Playbuzz CEO Shaul Olmert said that the company is in the process of a strategic pivot “stemming from the identification of new growth engines and global changes in media.”

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Founded in Tel Aviv in 2013 by Mr. Olmert and Tom Pachys, Playbuzz started out as a content creation platform offering interactive content formats such as polls, listicle, and quizzes. The company later expanded its activity to offer branded content for commercial partners published on third-party websites.  

Playbuzz is now headquartered in New-York, operating additional offices in Moscow, London, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, Los Angeles, Hamburg, and Lviv, Ukraine. In September 2017, the company raised $35 million in a Series C funding round. Playbuzz received a total equity of $66 million from investors including Viola Growth Management Fund, Disney, Saban Ventures, the investment arm of Saban Capital Group Ltd., 83North Ltd., and Carmel Ventures Ltd. Mr. Olmert said that the company is transitioning from a primarily editorial platform to a content creation and market analytics tool for advertisers.

“The reason for the organizational restructuring is our desire to focus on sales in our primary markets—U.S. and Europe,” Mr. Olmert said, adding that the company is expected to substantially increase its workforce later this year.