Cameo, a Celebrity Shoutout App, Lays Off 25% of Workforce

Cameo, an app that became a pandemic darling by letting people pay celebrities to send them customized video greetings, told its employees that it was laying off more than 80 employees, about a quarter of its workforce, according to one of the employees. The company told employees about the plans on Wednesday during an all-hands meeting.

“The decision to reduce our headcount was a painful but necessary course correction” to “balance our costs with our cash reserves,” CEO and co-founder Steven Galanis said in a statement to The Information.

Other startups and public companies that boomed during the onset of the pandemic in 2020 have experienced slowdowns and laid off some staff to save on costs. They include online-events app Hopin, stock-buying app Robinhood, automation firm Hyperscience and food-delivery app Gopuff. Most of the 350 or so employees at the Chicago-based Cameo had been working remotely since the pandemic.