Notes: NameMedia Lays Off 30

Unconfirmed notes suggest domain giant has laid off 30 people.

[Updated]Xconomy is citing unconfirmed notes that NameMedia, parent firm of Afternic and BuyDomains, has laid off 30 employees. Please note that Xconomy has been unable to confirm the layoffs as of yet. I have reached out to multiple employees at NameMedia and will update this post as more information becomes available.

As of September 2007 the firm had 136 employees as stated by SEC filings.

NameMedia filed to go public back in November 2007, but obviously the stock markets have not been favorable to IPOs since then.

The firm generated $61.0 million in revenue in 2006 and $58.3 million in revenue during the nine months ended September 30, 2007. More recent numbers are not available, but I suspect advertising revenue has come under extreme pressure.

NameMedia owns BuyDomains, an end-user focused domain name sales site, as well as Afternic.com, a favorite aftermarket among domain owners. It also owns three domain name parking services: GoldKey, ActiveAudience, and SmartName. It purchased both GoldKey and Smartname. All three parking services are similar.

The firm’s business model generates revenue from advertising (primarily on its 750,000 plus domains and through clients of its three domain parking services) and through sales of domain names through BuyDomains and Afternic. The firm also has expiring domain agreements with Melbourne IT and Tucows (AMEX: TCX).

I’ll update this post if I receive any fresh information. If anyone has more information regarding the rumored layoffs please comment.

[Update: I’ve heard of at least a modest handful of people being laid off, but I haven’t been able to confirm any massive firm wide lay-offs.]