As a former employee, I’ve got a lot to say about this story and the causes but my main thought is this: if it’s true* that Softonic announced that it had bought a San Francisco-based startup the same day it announced massive layoffs, that, for me, sums up what has changed in the company’s values… who on earth thought that was the right way to do things? How the hell did no one realize how that would look? What a shame.
[* This has since been confirmed to me by several current employees. Unbelievable.]
And there I was, predicting they would translate resources to Zaragoza! New glasses time.
I never really understood what value the service provided – I used Cnet occasionally like a million years ago, but then they started with the whole installer/spam racket, and I figured Softonic would be like that.
This is really disappointing to hear about. Shocking too, given the number of lay-offs about to happen, right alongside the acquisition of a Bay Area startup.
When I worked there, Softonic seemed like a family. Yes, there was a hierarchy, but it seemed to be a very congenial, collaborative environment (from the perspective of a non-managerial employee, at least). I’d heard that Partners Group bought an interest a few years back and that the atmosphere had been changing, but didn’t know specifics. Really sad to see how many people are going to be affected by this decision.