OneMediaPlace Cuts Staff by 30 Percent

In a development that further deepens the retrenchment in advertising-related Internet businesses, OneMediaPlace, an online marketplace for the buying and selling of ads, has laid off 39 employees at locations in New York and San Francisco.

Company spokesman Patrick Paterson told IAR sister publication AtNewYork.com that the cuts represented 30 percent of OneMediaPlace’s workforce, which was reduced from 130 to 91 after the staff cuts. The layoffs were “part of a cost-management program that we’ve instituted to ensure our long term financial health,” Paterson said.

The job cuts are a signal that the difficulties in the online advertising business have now hit companies in this once-hot media marketplace sector. Although OneMediaPlace had been around since 1997 as AdAuction, the space suddenly saw a rush of new entrants and new capital earlier this year — around the time the company rebranded itself and scored big bucks from investors.

OneMediaPlace snagged $67 million in private investment financing led by CMGI @Ventures in May, with media firms PRIMEDIA, Liberty Media, and the French investor Artemis joining the round. CMGI @Ventures had, just a month earlier, plugged $25 million into the company.

OneMediaPlace styles itself as a solution for planning, buying, and selling advertising media on the Internet. As AdAuction.com, the company had focused mostly on online and outdoor advertising, with sales taking place through an auction model. More recently, the company brought aboard a more experienced management team, and worked to expand its reach to radio, television, and print media. Additionally, OneMediaPlace aimed to leave behind the auction model — a model that was much criticized in the industry because it sought to change the way media buyers and sellers traditionally interacted.