Viddy, video-sharing mobile app developer, cuts staff by a third

Viddy, a Venice, Calif., start-up that has been described as the Instagram of video, has laid off a dozen employees, or about a third of its staff.

The company’s board issued a statement Monday saying it had slashed the workforce to cut costs.

“As the board continues to review Viddy’s business, we’ve identified specific ways to streamline costs which include eliminating some positions,� the board’s statement said. “These changes will allow the Viddy team to be focused on bringing the most innovative and engaging social mobile video product to market.�

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Among those remaining with the company are engineers “key to product development� and two of the start-up’s co-founders, Chris Ovitz and J.J. Aguhob, a company spokeswoman said.

The cuts come just weeks after the third co-founder, Brett O’Brien, was fired from his position as chief executive.

Earlier this month, Brian O’Malley, a Viddy board member and investor, cited a drop in traffic as one of the reasons for O’Brien’s dismissal.

“We still get 4 [million] to 5 million uniques a month, but things are not perfect,� O’Malley told PandoDaily. “The goal now is to maximize the shareholder value going forward from this point. Version 2.0 is set to launch in a few weeks. It by no means is a silver bullet, but it is a reflection of lots of user feedback and is a material step in the right direction.�

Viddy, available for the iPhone and Android phones, lets users shoot and share 15-second-long videos, which they can enhance with audio and photo filters.

Recently, Twitter entered Viddy’s market with Vine, an iPhone app released in January that lets users shoot and share six-second looping videos.

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