OnLive Fires 50% of Staff Prior to Being Acquired by Outside Company

[Shawn Zipay]

The latest word about the future of OnLive, after today's initial reports, is that over 50% of the company's employees prior to the finalization of the company's acquisition by another party. Those who were let go after the 10AM meeting were given until 4PM to pack up their stuff and leave as their key cards would be deactivated at that time.

The layoffs came as a surprise to most every employee at the company, with the exception of the company's CEO, Steve Perlman, who stands to gain the most from the new acquisition. The operating costs of OnLive are reportedly around $5 million a month, a possible reason for the quick and dirty nature in which employees were laid off today.

The company issued a brief statement today.

We can now confirm that the assets of OnLive, Inc. have been acquired into a newly-formed company and is backed by substantial funding, and which will continue to operate the OnLive Game and Desktop services, as well as support all of OnLive's apps and devices, as well as game, productivity and enterprise partnerships. The new company is hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.'s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees. All previously announced products and services, including those in the works, will continue and there is no expected interruption of any OnLive services.

We apologize that we were unable to comment on this transaction until it completed, and were limited to reporting on news related to OnLive's businesses. Now that the transaction is complete, we are able to make this statement.

The company that picked up OnLive has not yet been revealed. OnLive was at one point valued at $1.8 billion.

Best of luck to all of the employees affected by this.

(via Venturebeat)

[CptainCrunch]

Re: OnLive Fires 50% of Staff Prior to Being Acquired by Outside Company

Steve, have a good nights rest buddy and hope there is no afterlife of any kind.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: OnLive Fires 50% of Staff Prior to Being Acquired by Outside Company

They fired the other 50% so they dont qualify for stock options.

I dont know about anyone else, but whatever this company becomes or continues to do, I would not support it in any way shape or form. I would even contact my investors and demand that any funds or stocks not be with them.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: OnLive Fires 50% of Staff Prior to Being Acquired by Outside Company

They fired the other 50% so they dont qualify for stock options.

I dont know about anyone else, but whatever this company becomes or continues to do, I would not support it in any way shape or form. I would even contact my investors and demand that any funds or stocks not be with them.

[jimykx]

Re: OnLive Fires 50% of Staff Prior to Being Acquired by Outside Company

I would not support it in any way shape or form.

Well I already tend not to support anything with "cloud gaming" on it