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Vista Equity Partners’ TripleLift implements ‘significant’ layoffs
TripleLift, the self-styled creative supply-side platform, implemented significant layoffs late last week, as the industry prepares itself for a more lean second half of the year.
Digiday was unable to precisely quantify the scale of the cutbacks, with the company unable to comment on Digiday’s clarification request by press time, although sources indicate the number of roles impacted by the cuts is likely in the mid-to-high double-digits. Prior to the official revelation of the reduction-in-force, TripleLift’s homepage stated that it had “400+ talented workers.”
The latest round of layoffs is understood to have impacted all departments at the SSP across multiple geographies, with the measures interpreted as a means of weathering a challenging economic outlook for the remainder of 2025. They’re not alone. For example, even before it downgraded its 2025 profit forecast last week, WPP’s media arm lowered its estimates for global ad spend by 1.7%, citing clients’ collective concern about U.S. President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade wars.
It is understood that TripleLift’s decisions were similarly driven, with Digiday sources, all of whom requested anonymity given the sensitive nature of such developments, noting that several of its peers have taken similar measures in recent months. One mentioned how “quiet layoffs” or ”stealth cutbacks” have been a common means of workforce reductions recently.
TripleLift’s sale to Vista Equity Partners in a deal that valued it at $1.4 billion was one of the standout exits of the 2020/21 window. This period witnessed multiple highly-priced exits either via mergers and acquisitions (notably to private equity firms) or listings on the public markets.
Since then, the company has witnessed several high-profile departures among its leadership, including TripleLift’s founding executive team, Eric Berry, Ari Lewine and Shaun Zacharia, with the CEO mantle undergoing several changes since 2021. Current CEO Dave Helmreich assumed the role in February this year, after a period of several months when the company was under the supervision of an interim “office of the CEO,” following the abrupt exit of predecessor Dave Clark.
Observers note how this lack of continuity at the highest echelons of the company will have negatively impacted its fortunes since its 2021 takeover by Vista. However, some will point to how the latest round of layoffs is a textbook PE-takeover move, and echo TripleLift’s 2023 RIF, where it shed one-fifth of headcount.
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