Plex, the free streaming app, laid off approximately 20% of its staff, TechCrunch has learned, which will affect all departments, including the Personal Media teams.
“This is by far the hardest decision we’ve had to make at Plex,” CEO Keith Valory said in a statement. “These are all wonderful people, great colleagues, and good friends. But we believe it is the right thing for the long-term health and stability of Plex.”
The streaming app gives users a single destination to upload and organize content (video, audio and photos) from their own server while also allowing them to stream it via mobile app, smart TV or desktop.
In recent years, however, Plex has invested in free, ad-supported streaming (FAST) and live TV offerings. The FAST market has become saturated as many companies have entered the space. Plus, the overall advertising industry has taken a hit, making it harder for companies to earn enough revenue.
Valory noted in his statement that the company was significantly impacted by the slowdown. “While we adjusted our business plan last year after the shift in equity markets to get us back on a path to profitability without having to cut personnel expenses, the downturn in the ad market in Q2 put significantly more pressure on our business and ultimately it became clear that we would need to take additional measures in order to maintain a confident path to profitability within the next 18 months,” he said.
He added that the company is still expected to see 30% growth this year.
According to a Slack message from Valory, obtained by The Verge, which first reported the layoffs, Valory noted that 37 employees would be impacted.
Additionally, it seems that Plex may have had another round of layoffs earlier this year. Five months ago, a former account executive posted on LinkedIn that they were “affected by company layoffs.”
As of January, the company had 175 employees, and its revenue was in the double-digit millions.
Updated 6/29/23 at 12:10 p.m. ET with a statement from CEO.
Hopefully that doesn’t mean we are going to see a slowdown in personal media features.
It will. As someone who only uses Plex, I’m sure the company will have to strive so hard after monetization that they’ll ruin the product and force us onto an open source alternative. I like Plex, but I don’t expect it to last after seeing all the other tech companies fail at this.
Wasn’t Plex originally a fork of XBMC?
When COVID started really popping off, management at my old job gathered all the technicians together in the shop. They read a bunch of names off a piece of paper while everyone stood around confused, then they said “If you heard your name, this is your last day with the company.” Absolutely heartless.
They then put out a canned public message about how hard the decision was, and how every employee is a member of the family.
As someone who’s been laid off, it always annoys me when people at the top try to act all hurt. Their name was never brought up as a potential layoff. The decision wasn’t nearly as hard as getting laid off.
Those who made the decision to go after the FAST market and lose money aren’t the ones getting laid off, it’s the ones who followed and built it. The risky outcome was never on the heads of those deciding to take the risk.
That doesn’t make it easy, knowing you have to make a choice that negatively impacts people that have dedicated time and parts of their lives to your project. Having to make a choice that impacts others is not easy and only a sociopath wouldn’t give a shit. Despite what many think on sites like this, often many leaders, especially in smaller companies like this that started as a passion project are not those types of people etc. They often don’t have the same personality traits you HAVE to have to climb a ladder at say, IBM or Dell etc.
That’s not to say it doesn’t suck for the people being laid off. And that you can’t have empathy and sympathy for both sides. It’s not a competition or a binary choice.
Oh boo hoo. They still get to go to work tomorrow. They still get a paycheck. They don’t have to go through the hassle of job seeking, interviewing, and the rejection letters. They don’t have to go home and wonder if they’ll make it through this time. They don’t have to see the worry in their spouse’s eyes, wondering if they will be able to pay the bills in the future.
And no, two weeks severance isn’t enough. It’s almost an insult really, as it can take that long to get interviews scheduled.
That’s missing the point entirely. The statement isn’t playing a victim card at all. It’s recogition that it’s a shitty position to put someone in.
Expressing empathy and sympathy for those that the decision affects and stating/iterating that it was not an easy choice isnt something I take as “woe is me” or playing the victim card.
The outcome and road ahead sucks for those affected no matter what. But sometimes all anyone can do is show some mercy and not be a dick with how they approach it.
Now, that said, it’s entirely situational and I don’t actually know the culture at plex as an employer (only as a customer). So this could totally be nothing more than lip service.
But understanding and differentiating the difference between lip service and sincerity does matter.
Empathy doesn’t pay the bills. I can’t call up the bank and say “hey I can’t pay the bill this month, but my ex-boss is really sorry about all this.”
Google and Friends gave people 6 months of severance. Thats enough time to get your life back on track. But two weeks is basically just “here have another single payslip to go away forever.”
Again not the point and no one said it did. But doing things with respect matters. And nothing lasts forever
Also 2 weeks is pretty standard, and isn’t terrible in an at will situation. Have you ever given a company 6 months notice?
Also if you are working full time at a company like Plex and living hand to mouth that’s not really on plex.
How are layoffs respectful? “Yeah we overspent or aren’t quite as profitable as we’d like, so we’ve determined that you’re redundant or unneeded or some other adjective that shouldn’t ever be used on a human, and so we’re going to have security perp walk you out of the office like you were caught stealing something, and we’ll have someone box up your shit and break some of it and mail it to you in 4-8 weeks. Please sign this paper that says you wont talk about what we did to you and we’ll toss a few bucks your way.”
I’ve even seen companies where people got informed they were laid off when they couldn’t log into their Slack account or whatever else. No other notice. Just dripping with respect.
I didn’t get laid off from Plex. I’ve been laid off from other companies, large and small, and had friends laid off while I was a “survivor”. My favorite time I was laid off was a few months after my wife had a baby, and a week after I told my boss she was pregnant again. That one extra paycheck sure helped me pay off the 2 month NICU stay for baby #1! I really felt respected by that company. Really liked it when the CEO sent out a form letter talking about how hard it was on him and how he lost a whole nights sleep figuring out who to screw over, instead of cutting costs in other areas.
Those at the top are the sociopaths lol.
So anyone that has grown within a company and into leadership or executive positions are sociopaths full stop?
That’s not really a healthy outlook to have tbh.
It’s not a black and white thing. it’s a probability thing. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5389508#
I’m aware of the theory. And even acknowledged it in my initial reply in this very chain….
Oh, ok. Alright then
Of course it’s not an easy decision. But don’t go all “woe is me” when you’re not the one actually suffering. Own the mistake. Promise to do better.
Expressing empathy and sympathy for those that the decision affects and stating/iterating that it was not an easy choice isnt something I take as “woe is me” or playing the victim card.
The outcome and road ahead sucks for those affected no matter what. But sometimes all anyone can do is show some mercy and not be a dick with how they approach it.
Now, that said, it’s entirely situational and I don’t actually know the culture at plex as an employer (only as a customer). So this could totally be nothing more than lip service.
But understanding and differentiating the difference between lip service and sincerity does matter.
‘Some of you may die, but that’s a risk I’m willing to take’
Well, it’s pretty unsurprising considering all companies are doing the same.
I’ve given a chance to Jellyfin but it’s really frustating how it simply refused to play video files without any descriptive error logs. I think it mostly doesn’t work properly on HEVC files (I think Edge is the only browser that properly supports x265) and my Android TV also doesn’t play the damn thing.
Also adding that video files from the same release (which assumed are the same encoder), they either work perfectly or just refuse to work :(
I do not pay for Plex but I considered in the past getting a lifetime sub x)
Shit. I’d have moved to Jellyfin already if they had an Apple TV client. If they go under I might have to get a 2nd set top box just to run JF.
It’s a paid app, but infuse works very well on apple TV
They have “Swiftfin” but it’s had two updates in two years and it’s close to useless
I’ve been using Swiftfin on my Apple TV with zero problems. Its a lot more simple than Plex.
they have an app on apple tv thats been working well with unraid and a jellyfin docker
Unfettered Capitalism breeds emshitification.
Why build and keep a great product when shareholders will always push for more growth and higher revenue. Even if that means laying off your best devs and pissing off users.
Is this company even publicly traded? I don’t think so.
It seems like in the last few years the company’s focus has primarily been on adding things to Plex that I do not want as part of Plex. And not adding the audiobook support that I do want.
Look up audiobookshelf if you’re willing to mess with docker a bit and forward a port or two. It’s open source and does a, wonderful job.
Audiobookshelf is great
Look up audiobookshelf if you’re willing to mess with docker a bit and forward a port or two. It’s open source and does a wonderful job.
Wasn’t even aware the Plex was still around. Swapped to Jellyfin years ago.
I used Plex for years, and it is the superior product (if you pay) compared to Open Source alternatives. However, after seeing Plex’s recent incentive pivots and looking for investors I jumped shipped to Jellyfin. The thermometor of enshittification is indicating that Plex is on its way out.
Folks who haven’t looked at alternatives yet, do so now.
Well shit… it seems the recent rash of enshittification continues. I didn’t realize Plex was doing this so I guess an exit strategy is required. Thanks for the heads up.
Literally the only two things keeping me from jumping ship are the multi-user support and Plexamp.
I hated using Plex. They make you suffer unless you pay way too much for what the service is worth. Jellyfin has been a far more pleasant experience.
The evil clone of XBMC is finally in its death throes (yes I’m still bitter about that). No worry, Jellyfin is better.
XBMC
Wow that takes me back lol
007 Nightfire softmod crew checking in. Kodi has been making the best htpc for more than a decade now. I love me some jellyfin, but I’ll probably always have a kodi box or two around the house.
I think Kodi would be more akin to XMBC. What’s the relation with Plex?
Kodi IS XBMC. It’s the same team, XBMC changed their name to Kodi once it became unavoidably awkward that no one was running XBMC on actual Xboxes anymore. Plex started as a fork of XBMC but went down the proprietary route and shunned their FOSS roots.
Jellyfin NEEDS a plexamp tier music streaming app for me to consider moving unless plex completely self-owns harder than Twitter and reddit combined
Jellyfin needs apps I can install on my parent’s TV, that’s the only thing that keeps me on Plex.
I only still have a plex server running for audiobook support with the app Prologue. Everything else is happy in Jellyfin and and has been rock solid. Plex went way to corporate and it creeped me out.
How is it making double digit millions? Through deals with companies and plex passes?
Valory noted in his statement that the company was significantly impacted by the slowdown.
He added that the company is still expected to see 30% growth this year.
Which is which?
well depends who’s asking. Are you a shareholder, or a common man?
Can’t I be both?
Or we could all switch to an Open Source alternative, Jellyfin, and either donate what you’d normally pay Plex or just enjoy it for free. I’ve never used Plex and started with Jellyfin. It’s gotten the job done thus far
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If jellyfin could record and playback OTA TV on my Apple TV I’d switch tomorrow, but it seems the team is either unable to or unwilling to work on that feature which is core to how my household uses Plex. The only maybe solution is Infuse which is paid and closed source so is no better really than using Plex in that regard.
Like most things in the world, your use case is not the only use case and as such a solution that checks all the boxes for you will not check all the boxes for everyone.
I’ve never paid plex but just seals the deal. They obviously can’t be trusted to handle the money I give them properly. I wish Jellyfin was a litte more fullybaked though. The app for appletv is really bad
You should try out Infuse. It’s $10/year and I’ve been loving it. Better than any other app I’ve tried and at under $1 a month worth it for me.
It’s the app ecosystem for plex that keeps me there. There’s an app for my LG tv, an app for my in-laws’ Roku etc.
I downloaded the free emby server for my pc and paid the single payment 4€ for the android tv app. No regrets, works great.
Yes you’re right, Jellyfin isn’t on many platforms but I’m pretty sure they have an app for LG and Roku (Clients here). Although the LG app isn’t the best from what I remember. What I usually do is use an Amazon fire stick with Tailscale for my family and it’s been working well. But also as popularity increases others will be able to contribute more and the apps will become better.
I use the Roku app every day. It’s very good.
Yes you’re right, Jellyfin isn’t on many platforms but I’m pretty sure they have an app for LG and Roku (Clients here). Although the LG app isn’t the best from what I remember. What I usually do is use an Amazon fire stick with Tailscale for my family and it’s been working well. But also as popularity increases others will be able to contribute more and the apps will become better.
Agreed. If Jellyfin has any desire to become the market leader and a legit alternative for home media streaming, an already narrow niche, they need to refine this piece of the end user experience.
And I’m not saying Jellyfin wants to do this. They’ve definitely found their hardcore enthusiast crowd.
How does jellyfin compare to Kodi and Emby? I’ve been using Emby for the last couple of years and it’s fine, but I wonder if I’m missing out on any features.
Jellyfin came out of Emby if I am not wrong. Something like they took the open source parts and created jellyfin and then improvised upon that.
Jellyfin is a fork from when Emby went closed source.
