Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Britehouse breaks free from NTT Data

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      The satellite broadband operators taking on Starlink

      9 July 2025

      Yaccarino out: Musk’s handpicked CEO quits X suddenly

      9 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025

      Grammarly acquires e-mail start-up Superhuman

      1 July 2025

      Apple considers ditching its own AI in Siri overhaul

      1 July 2025

      Jony Ive’s first AI gadget could be … a pen

      30 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025

      MultiChoice may unbundle SuperSport from DStv

      12 June 2025

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on the latest and greatest cloud technologies

      27 June 2025

      TCS+ | First Distribution on data governance in hybrid cloud environments

      27 June 2025
    • Opinion

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » Mxit firms up retrenchments

    Mxit firms up retrenchments

    By Craig Wilson11 December 2012
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    Mobile social network Mxit has confirmed that it has retrenched more than a quarter of its workforce. Forty-one people from of its 150-strong staff complement were let go as part of a refocusing of its strategy for 2013.

    The move comes only two months after CEO Alan Knott-Craig left the company. Knott-Craig resigned and also left World of Avatar, the investment company he founded and of which Mxit is a subsidiary, after reportedly clashing with shareholders, who include former FirstRand executives Paul Harris and GT Ferreira.

    In a statement on Tuesday, Mxit said it was aiming for aggressive growth in 2013 with the implementation of an “extremely focused technology and business plan”.

    Mxit secured an investment of R100m in October and said this, along with savings it expected to generate from company-wide cost cutting, would be channeled into “key growth areas”. These included “self-service community creation tools, developer support, technology innovation, advertising partnerships and collaboration with key companies and brands”.

    Acting CEO Francois Swart said Mxit had “just completed a thorough and intense strategic planning process, in which the whole business was involved at some level in the process”.

    “Our goal is to more than double our user base during the next year. To achieve this, we need to take a very focused approach to what Mxit does and does not do. Regrettably, that means stopping or cutting back activities in some areas.

    “Rapid growth is expected by investing in user acquisition, improving the user experience, empowering our developer community through richer [application programming interfaces], and further promoting the excellent results our advertising partners have been achieving over the last two years.”

    The company says it approached staff members whose positions were “highlighted as being at risk”, asking them to take voluntary redundancy packages. It accepted voluntary retrenchment deals with 41 of its employees.  — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media

    • See also: Trouble in Mxit-land


    Alan Knott-Craig Jr Francois Swart GT Ferreira MXit Paul Harris World of Avatar
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleA guy, some tattoos, and a business
    Next Article iTunes now offers movies in SA

    Related Posts

    15 amazing inventions that came out of South Africa

    9 April 2025

    From Talkomatic to WhatsApp: the incredible history of instant messaging

    28 May 2024

    The most iconic Nokia phones ever made

    19 April 2024
    Company News

    AI in project management: a new era of efficiency and transformation

    10 July 2025

    Samsung unfolds the future with thinnest, lightest Galaxy Z Fold yet

    9 July 2025

    Huawei supercharges South African SMEs with over 20 new eKit products

    9 July 2025
    Opinion

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

    17 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.