WeTransfer cuts 75% of staff months after acquisition by Bending Spoons

Italian tech company Bending Spoons is set to significantly reduce WeTransfer’s workforce, with 75% of its staff facing the chop, according to a report by TechCrunch.

This downsizing comes just months after Bending Spoons acquired the Dutch file-sharing platform in July for an undisclosed amount.

WeTransfer, which currently employs over 350 people and serves around 600,000 subscribers and 80 million monthly users, will undergo significant restructuring.

Bending Spoons CEO Luca Ferrari explained that the company aims to create a “smaller, more sharply focused WeTransfer organisation” to ensure long-term success.

Ferrari claimed that Bending Spoons thoroughly analyses each acquisition to determine the best action.

“Once the vision is clear, we try to close the gap between the status quo and the vision as quickly and as fully as we can,” Ferrari told TechCrunch.

Bending Spoons has a history of restructuring its acquisitions, having previously implemented job cuts at Evernote and Meetup — and even laid off the entire team at Filmic after taking them over.

In a LinkedIn post, Gregory Witek, senior engineering manager at Booking.com, said, “Private equity companies have proven that acquiring companies and optimising their costs can work. However, since these transactions are private, they often remain undisclosed, so it’s hard to say how profitable they are.

“So far, Bending Spoons has raised more than $500M and is valued at more than $2.5bn, and this year, they have been on an acquisition spree.”

WeTransfer has used its advertising platform to promote arts and culture, even commissioning the short film “The Long Goodbye”, which won an Oscar in 2022 — leaving many with mixed feelings about its addition to a large portfolio.

In 2022, WeTransfer planned an initial public offering in Amsterdam, aiming for a valuation of up to 716 million euros, but due to market volatility, the IPO didn’t go ahead.

The company hasn’t disclosed its long-term product roadmap under Bending Spoons’ ownership. However, WeTransfer has recently introduced a new feature allowing users to extend the expiry date of shared links.