Razorfish Cuts 10 Percent of New York City Staff

Razorfish continues to pare its staff as the recession chugs along. The digital ad agency laid off about 10 percent of its Manhattan-based staff earlier this month. The company cited the economic downturn as a main reason for the layoffs.

“Razorfish, like most companies in our industry has been reacting to the recession,” Razorfish Marketing Director David Deal told ClickZ News.

Deal also suggested staff reorganization was a factor. “We’ve been aligning our skills with long-term client demand,” he said, adding that the Microsoft-owned firm “[feels] good about client demand long-term.”

In February, Razorfish let go 70 people from West coast offices in Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle. The company also blamed the economy for those layoffs, in particular ad budget cuts among its financial and technology clients.

Lower financial advertiser budgets were also the reason given for New York staff reductions in October of last year. Then, Razorfish handed pink slips to 40, at the time about 2 percent of its national workforce.