Vimeo Lays Off ‘Most’ of Its Staff, Allegedly Includes ‘the Entire Video Team’
January 23, 2026
Employees reported major job cuts this week, just months after the video hosting site was bought by Bending Spoons.
The news comes just months after the Italian tech holding company Bending Spoons [4] bought Vimeo for $1.38 billion last year. Vimeo had previously cut its workforce by 10% in September.
Founded in 2004, just one year before YouTube, Vimeo has positioned itself as a premium alternative for video hosting, focusing more on professional creators and businesses than viral content.
In 2020, Vimeo began leaning more heavily into AI-powered tools after acquiring Magisto, introducing automated video editing features. More recently, the company has continued to embrace AI. Last year, it rolled out features that use AI to search through video libraries, allowing users to quickly find specific moments using keyword searches.
Bending Spoons, meanwhile, has developed a reputation for buying tech companies past their peak and aggressively cutting costs. The firm acquired Evernote in 2022, followed by Meetup and WeTransfer in 2024, and AOL and Eventbrite in 2025. Layoffs followed many of those deals. In September 2024, just months after being acquired by Bending Spoons, WeTransfer laid off 75% of its staff.
“I can confirm that a layoff was announced at Vimeo on January 20, 2026. To respect the privacy of those departing, we cannot provide additional details at this time,” a Bending Spoons spokesperson told Gizmodo in an emailed statement. “Going forward, Bending Spoons remains committed to growing Vimeo to meet the needs of its diverse user base.”
Vimeo’s two bad investment calls into Israeli tech:
- Wibbitz [3]
- Magisto [5]
are entirely flushed by the new owners the Bending Spoons.
The video platform Vimeo is laying off most of its employees in Israel and is estimated to be preparing to shut down its local operations entirely. The company’s Israeli development activity is based on two acquisitions: Magisto, which Vimeo acquired in 2019 for approximately $200 million, and Wibbitz [3], a company specializing in the automated creation of videos from text. [2]
Vimeo employees. (Photo: Vimeo Israel)
Vimeo is an American technology company focused on professional video creation and distribution tools. In 2024, it moved into new offices at the Da Vinci Towers in Tel Aviv. Those offices later sustained significant damage during the war with Iran.
[2] Vimeo begins winding down its Israeli operations after broad layoffs | Ctech
[3] https://tracxn.com/d/companies/wibbitz/__uX2_w7KU2BqrPI_ELxe9j9lBHakwB_YdVsGzqt0eyyw