Hootsuite has swapped CEOs as the company has also made its third round of layoffs in the past six months.
Tom Keiser, who took over as CEO from founder Ryan Holmes in 2020, is being replaced by Irina Novoselsky, who most recently served as CEO of CareerBuilder.
At the same time, the Vancouver-based company has laid off around seven percent of its current workforce, cutting about 70 people, in what represents its third round of staff cuts since August of last year.
Hootsuite’s employee base has decreased by more than 35 percent since August last year.
The layoffs, which Hootsuite confirmed to BetaKit, were first reported by The Globe and Mail. In a statement to BetaKit, a spokesperson for Hootsuite said, “it was a difficult decision to make but these reductions to our global workforce will best position Hootsuite for the long term.”
In August, Hootsuite cut 30 percent of its global workforce, approximately 400 employees, which was followed in November by an additional five percent staff reduction.
After its most recent round of cuts, Hootsuite’s headcount sits at 900 people, according to its spokesperson. The company’s employee base has decreased by more than 35 percent since its peak prior to the first round of layoffs when Hootsuite employed around 1,400 people.
Hootsuite did not respond to questions about the types of roles that were affected by the latest reduction.
Novoselsky takes over the top spot at Hootsuite as the company continues to feel the effects of the tech downturn that has seen many companies making operational cutbacks.
On Monday, Clearco replaced its CEO (for the second time in one year) as well as cut 30 percent of its staff in what was its second set of significant layoffs within the last six months.
On Tuesday, Lightspeed laid off 10 percent of its staff while Microsoft confirmed reports on Wednesday that it was cutting about 10,000 employees (about five percent of its workforce).
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Regarding Novoselsky’s appointment as CEO, the company’s public statement noted her “deep experience” leading “high velocity, high scale businesses.”
As The Globe reported, Novoselsky was a “turnaround CEO” at CareerBuilder and in a previous role as president of Novitex Enterprise Solutions. She will likely play much the same role at Hootsuite as the company looks to handle the changing nature of the tech sector.
Keiser, the former COO of Zendesk, joined Hootsuite two years ago during a different transition for the company. After serving as CEO for more than 10 years, Holmes had stepped back to an executive chair role and Hootsuite underwent an overhaul of its executive team.
The shift came after a difficult 2019 for the company that included a failed attempt to sell the company and significant layoffs.
Under Keiser’s leadership, Hootsuite focused on pushing the social media management firm into e-commerce and customer service software, and acquired an automated messaging platform and chatbot startup.
Last year also saw Hootsuite forgo plans to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange as investor appetite for new Canadian tech issues waned.
Feature image courtesy Hootsuite.