Goal.com lays off Singapore content team

Following poor financial performance last year, Perform Asia has been steadily making cuts to the various content divisions of Goal.com.The company suffered major financial loss late last year after a stock market crash wiped out half of Perform Group’s value overnight.Also, earlier in 2011, the digital sports media rights group bought Goal.com for an undisclosed sum.But as of this year, the company has been making steady cuts to its content teams in various markets, closing its local content operations in China, Vietnam, Peru, Iran and most recently, Singapore.A spokesperson for Perform confirmed the closures of the China and Vietnam editions of Goal.com, but said that it was merely “temporary.”As for the Singapore edition was launched in January 2012 and a team was appointed for it, including chief editor Bhas Kunju. The team, which also included deputy editor Teo Teng Kiat and correspondent Afifah Ariffin, was let go when the company decided to shutter its local content ops. Kunju and Ariffin have confirmed the development to Marketing.According to the spokesperson, content for Singapore will now be supplemented by its international divisions, which creates most of its content for its 33 markets.“We are constantly reviewing and realigning our business. While a small number of editions were closed in the first quarter of the year, in Q2 we opened 3 new Goal editions. We are constantly reviewing where new opportunities lie for us,” she said.