NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Cyanogen lays off 20 percent of its staff, denies rumors of pivoting to apps
A new report by Android Police claims that CyanogenMod creator Cyanogen Inc has just laid off 30 employees, which represents roughly 20 percent of its workforce.
According to Android Police, the layoffs came immediately after an executive retreat for Cyanogen’s leadership, with no warning being given before they took place. The report also says that the layoffs have primarily affected the company’s open source development arm.
The news of the layoffs comes just three months after Cyanogen announced a new partnership with Microsoft, which would Microsoft products with Cyanogen’s mobile OS, including Bing, Skype, OneDrive, OneNote, and Outlook. Despite that partnership, however, Cyanogen has struggled to sell its open source Android alternative to smartphone companies, especially after its partnership with OnePlus fell apart in what was allegedly an unfriendly split. According to emails obtained by XDA as part of a legal battle between OnePlus and Micromax, Cyanogen seemingly ended the relationship with little to no warning.
Several reports, including the original from Android Police as well as another from Recode, have claimed that Cyanogen would be pivoting away from OS work and toward developing apps instead, but company CEO Kirt McMaster posted a tweet denying that rumor.
“Cyanogen NOT pivoting to apps,” McMaster said. “We are an OS company and our mission of creating an OPEN ANDROID stands. FALSE reporting was outstanding.”
McMaster mentioned the layoffs in a separate tweet, saying, “Really sad we had to let go of some wonderful folks this week. Startups and disruption are brutal.”
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