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  • RockYou Rocked By Layoffs As It Switches Focus To Social Games

    Jason Kincaid

    Jason Kincaid worked as a writer for TechCrunch from April 2008 through 2012. He grew up in Danville, California and later relocated to UCLA in Los Angeles, California, where he studied biology with a minor in ‘Society and Genetics’. You can reach him at jkincaid@gmail.com → Learn More

    Friday, October 15th, 2010

    RockYou, a social network app developer that also has an advertising branch, has had substantial layoffs this week, we’ve just confirmed. The company says that it has “restructured the organization” in the last couple of days, and that going forward it is going to focus exclusively on social games, where it “sees the largest opportunity”.

    A company spokesperson declined to comment on how many people were laid off (the best I could get out of them was that it was less than half the company) — we’re working to get a more specific number. RockYou has been very well funded, with over $125 million raised to date. It recently closed a $10 million round in June to boost its presence in Asia.

    RockYou will continue to work on its advertising initiatives and will be directing most of its resources at developing social games. It won’t be shutting down its established non-gaming properties, which include Pieces of Flair and SuperWall, but it won’t be supporting them to the same extent that it has been up until this point.

    It’s been a bad year for RockYou. Less than twelve months ago, the company had all of its 32 million accounts hacked.

    RockYou arch-rival Slide was acquired by Google in August for $228 million.

    Company: RockYou
    Website: rockyou.com
    Launch Date: November 2005
    Funding: $129M

    RockYou® is committed to defining the future of social gaming, creating products intended to serve players, advertisers, and developers alike. The company has dedicated itself to the development of high-quality games, including the award-nominated Gourmet Ranchâ„¢ and the celebrated Zoo Worldâ„¢ franchise. With advertising products that offer brands more meaningful interactions with players, RockYou creates an unmatched value-per-engagement for both brands and users. RockYou’s partnerships with world-class talent are part of their steadfast commitment to working with the next...

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