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Quickflix to axe Sydney and Auckland offices and staff as founder gives himself a pay cut

Pay cut: Stephen Langsford

Pay cut: Stephen Langsford

The founder of struggling video streaming company Quickflix has cut his executive’s salaries as the company prepares to lay off a further 15% of its workforce, as it seeks yet more cash from investors.

The Perth-based operation is also axing its Sydney CBD and Auckland offices, while CEO Stephen Langsford has slashed his salary by $80,000 to $200,000, but will defer $150,000 of that until the company raises another $2m in a capital raising.

Quickflix has been in a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX:QFX) since the middle of 2015, with the company making savings of $4m per annum so far by laying off staff and restructuring deals with TV and movie studios.

Under the latest cost saving plans the company said it will reduce 15% of its staff, including costs at its Perth headquarters, stating: “These additional ongoing savings amount to over $1m per annum and are not expected to have a significant impact on core day to day services.”

Chief finance officer Simon Hodge has also had a pay cut from $250,000 to $170,000 per year including superannuation, but will also not get $150,000 of that until certain goals are met.

Both men stand to pocket 1% of the $2m if and when it is raised, and both will receive a bonus of the company manages two consecutive months of positive EBIT. They can also both be handed yet more shares in the company if it manages to resume trading on the ASX by October 2017.

In its February update the company called on rivals Stan to restructure preference shares it held in the company which Quickflix claimed made it unattractive for investors and harder to raise money. It is not thought that has come to fruition.

It has also recently signalled it will move away from streaming given the competition from the likes of Stan, Presto and Netflix, and move back to the transactional appraoch around DVD rentals and on-demand movies and TV shows.

Alex Hayes

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