Late last week, I shared news of Tucows’ acquisition of eNom. This is big news for a number of reasons, especially because Tucows will reportedly become the “second largest domain registrar in the world,” trailing GoDaddy.
One unfortunate side effect of this deal is layoffs. I ran into Bari Meyerson at NamesCon, and she shared the news that she was let go. I worked with Bari for a number of years at Moniker, and I continued to work with her when she went to work at eNom. On the infrequent occasions that I had an account management issue at eNom, she would either help solve it or connect me with the person who could.
I reached out to Rightside CEO Taryn Naidu to ask about the layoffs, and he told me the company made about 35 layoffs as a result of the deal. The company now has approximately 125 employees following the conclusion of the deal. Taryn felt it was important to note to me that “the 35 layoffs were not a result of performance or ability, but the ugly side of deals of this nature.”
It is unfortunate that layoffs resulted, and I would imagine it can be attributed to some job redundancy at the two companies. The good thing, I would think, is that there are now some experience domain industry veterans who may be looking for work in the domain space. Hopefully they land on their feet soon.
Thanks for the shout out Elliot!
Elliot,
Have always loved your blog and your insights. Thanks for that!
I, too, was part of the restructuring. As I have said a number of times Rightside (in particular Taryn and Tracy) were kind, thoughtful and compassionate. My feelings about Rightside and their amazing portfolio haven’t changed a bit. I am thankful for my time there. This is just a normal byproduct of the tech industry.
I am excited to start my next evangelism chapter!
Sean
Wishing you well.
Expect a lot more of this in the future as Rightside realizes it is on the wrong side.
Marchex lays off more staff as advertising analytics company aims for profitability…
nothing new…
We all knew it was coming, except for some blind new TLD investors.
Glad to see these lay-offs and hope none of these people land on their feet.
Rigtside/Name stole a domain name from me. Then Jared Ewy called me and asked if I wanted to do a video to get it back. I attempted to call him to pretty much say, “No thanks” but to try to workout another solution.
He never picked up the phone after repeatedly trying to call him at different times throught the day. He left a message the next day, at the end of the business day, saying, “I don’t pick numbers from Baltimore.” Wtf???
So first they steal a domain, then their employee blatantly lies to me.
F*ck Rightside, Name, and all of the shitty new gTLDs they own.
Thanks man. I appreciate your hope that the people who were laid off are all screwed. Makes me feel good.
Bari was helpful to me. A super talent.
I’ve worked with Bari for years and there is nobody better.
I agree Elliot, Bari will certainly be missed over there! I’m certain she’ll land someone soon, as she’s great at what she does!
I’ve had experience working with Rightside one on one including with their CEO, from what I experienced the company came off opportunistic and had no real clue as many of their employees have no history in the Internet industry much less domains. NJ is one of their only major revenue streams and their unwillingness to retain and police the platform illustrates their internal instability.