Quickflix to cut one-third of workforce

Quickflix, which is struggling to recover from a net loss of AU$14 million in the last financial year, will cut one-third of its workforce as part of an operational restructure that is designed to lure new investors.

The company announced to shareholders yesterday that it blamed its increase in expenditure in the last financial year and rolling out its streaming content service. Now the company is embarking on an "immediate restructure program", looking to reduct the cash outflow rate from AU$1 million per month.

Part of this restructure will see the company put into two divisions; one for the DVD rental company and the other for the online streaming service.

"Resulting headcount [will be] reduced by one-third, resulting in a saving of AU$2 million per annum," the company said.

Quickflix has approximately 94 full-time employees and 7 board members, according to the company's last annual report.

Other changes include seeking to lower the cost of customer acquisition by reducing advertising and focusing on direct targeting and channel partners, and through reducing DVD investment and focusing on pay-per-view streaming content. Quickflix estimates that the cost savings will begin to take effect in the next three to six months.

The company is still looking for investors. It said that it has been in contact with potential investors from both Australia and overseas, and expects to provide another update to the market next week.

Last week, Quickflix announced that the company's CEO Chris Taylor and Non-Executive Deputy Chairman Justin Milne had resigned from their roles in the company.