Brightcove Cuts 198 Jobs as Bending Spoons Eraser Hits Boston

BOSTON — The axe has fallen at Brightcove. Just months after Italian tech firm Bending Spoons agreed to buy the streaming technology pioneer for $233 million, the new owners are cutting 198 jobs—roughly two-thirds of the company’s U.S. workforce. The layoffs, confirmed in a report by Boston.com, signal the end of an era for one of Boston’s legacy tech brands as it is absorbed into Bending Spoons’ lean, automation-heavy portfolio.

Key Facts

• 198 employees cut, representing roughly 66% of the U.S. staff.
• Severance packages reportedly include one month of pay for every year of service (minimum 4 months).
• Source: Boston.com and Additional source: TVBEurope

The ‘Spoon’ Strategy Strikes Again

For longtime industry watchers, this move is brutal but predictable. Bending Spoons has built a reputation for buying distressed or stagnant tech assets and immediately cutting costs to the bone. When they bought Evernote, they gutted the U.S. staff and moved operations to Europe. When they bought WeTransfer, they cut 75% of the workforce. Now, Brightcove is getting the same treatment.

The goal is simple: maximize cash flow. Bending Spoons replaces human teams with automated back-office software and smaller, centralized engineering groups. While this fixes the bottom line, it destroys the local culture that built the product. Brightcove, once a pillar of the Boston tech scene, is effectively being transformed into just another asset in a foreign portfolio.

The Human Toll

The cuts are deep and swift. While the official Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) filed in Massachusetts lists 65 immediate local cuts, the total scope reaches nearly 200 workers across the country. Insider reports suggest the severance is generous—up to eight months of pay for veterans—but that does little to soften the blow of losing a career in a tight market.

Brightcove is now a private company, delisted from the stock market. This means we likely won’t see public earnings reports that show the aftermath of these cuts. But the pattern is clear: under Bending Spoons, the product stays, but the people go.