Jason Calacanis broke radio silence to say:
The advertising climate for the next two years will be severely depressed. To ignore this obvious fact would be irresponsible.
We've laid off a just under 10% of our full-time staff, cut our overhead by doing smart things like renting desks (we have six offices in Santa Monica fyi), and reorganized our editorial department to focus on freelance positions over in-house editors.
A soft market for ads hits me where it hurts. In the past, Jason has asserted that web advertising would resist market downturns, because it is the most efficient form of advertising. So let's hope that prognostication holds up.
Chris O'Brien, biz columnist for the Merc, recently noted that last time the market crashed, there was a nearly 12 month lag before waves of layoffs began. But that crash is part of our recent past. I think we'll see much faster reactions from the executive wing this time. Jason's pre-emptive strike on his workforce is exhibit A. Hopefully, that means we'll both bottom out and recover faster.