“We’re seeing this as a complete relaunch of the company,” said Stephane Kasriel, who became the company’s new CEO on April 20, in a phone interview. He led the global team of more than 300 engineers, designers and programmers to launch the new Upwork platform. Fabio Rosati, who led the Mountain View, Calif.-headquartered company since its formation, will remain active on its board of directors, according to the firm.
So what does the change mean? As of today, oDesk will disappear and redirect to Upwork, which charges clients the same percentage for paying freelancers are oDesk did. Elance, which charges clients a slightly lower percentage, will continue to operate. “At least for now we are letting people who want to be on Elance stay on Elance,” Kasriel said. Starting now, Upwork will be the main platform, and new users will have to sign up there. Ultimately, the company aims to have a single platform, Upwork, but that change will not be immediate.
