Will focus more on engineering

May 7, 2010 08:35 GMT  ·  By

Digg has been seeing some changes lately and they’re not the much-awaited and delayed redesign, unfortunately. A month ago, long-time CEO Jay Adelson was more or less ousted from the company he co-founded with Kevin Rose, which took over his role. He was quick to make a few changes, but this latest one may not prove one of his most popular, at least not for employees.

“This morning we faced the difficult task of reducing our team by about 10%. This was an emotional and rough morning for everyone involved. Laying off dedicated and hard working individuals is extremely difficult, but we tried our best to treat everyone with the utmost respect and support. I hope all of you will join me in the effort to assist all of those affected, be it as a reference or a referring source and most importantly, as a friend,” Rose wrote in an email to all employees published on the Digg blog.

No specific reason for the layoffs was given, but the email said the move was the right one for Digg’s “long-term health.” The email also says that Digg will focus more on the engineering side to continue to develop its products. In fact, it is still hiring in those departments. It’s clear that the decision and the new direction come from up top, namely from the new CEO. Digg had about 72 employees, according to its About page.

It’s too early to tell what this means for the company overall. Digg has been struggling to reinvent itself after new sites like Twitter have replaced it as the place for the latest news and trends. This new emphasis on the engineering side may pay off in the long run, but, for now, it still has to get the Digg redesign through the door, something that it’s been trying to do for half a year now. With the new CEO, the revamp has been further delayed.