Roku to cut 200 U.S. jobs, citing weak ad market as reason
Roku said Wednesday it will close a fraction of its U.S. workforce and cut about 200 jobs, blaming weak advertising rates as the reason for the company’s announcement.
In an email to employees, Roku CEO Tony Bartel said the company was “unable to maintain or increase advertising rates with the same frequency” and that it was therefore “adopt[ing] a similar approach to other businesses.” Bartel reiterated that he had “grave doubts” that the growth that the company has experienced since the year began was sustainable.
For the past four months, Roku has been hemorrhaging money. But while its stock has fallen by more than 50 percent, the company has managed to eke out a profit and has retained its investment bankers.
Roku has also hired a new president in its search for a new CEO. Bartel, formerly CFO of YouTube, was a former executive at AOL.
Roku is best known as a television set-top box, but the company has also expanded into such emerging technologies as music, voice search and cloud storage.
Roku, with about 17 percent of the U.S. market share, has experienced an uptick in its sales year over year, and CEO Tony Bartel has expressed confidence in Roku’s ability to grow without a dramatic expansion in marketing and advertising.
Roku has been slow to grow the number of channels its customers can access.
The company does have its own advertising. The company’s U.S. television advertising has been increasing its local inventory, so Roku does not have to rely on television to make ad revenue.
Roku has begun to make big announcements about the direction it is taking that would help it generate more ad revenue.
Roku is looking to expand its product lineup beyond entertainment and is also interested in buying the subscription video service Hulu.
It could bring Hulu to Roku. The company is also attempting to add more channels to its ad-supported video service.
Roku is also looking to expand its customer base beyond the United States and internationally to become more relevant in its industry.
Roku is trying to find the right time to buy, which could happen when the current
