Twitch, the live streaming platform popular with gamers, plans to cut about a third of its workforce in a major restructuring effort.
The Verge report Twitch, a leading game live streaming platform, announced a significant reduction in the number of employees As part of a strategic realignment led by parent company Amazon. Twitch plans to lay off more than 500 employees, about 35% of its workforce. The company said the measures are aimed at streamlining operations and allocating resources more effectively in line with the company's current business trajectory.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy commented on the situation: “We regret to share that we are taking the painful step of reducing our workforce by just over 500 people across Twitch…Today will be an extremely difficult day.”
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announces 500 job cuts at company pic.twitter.com/ly9fm7CIkR
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) January 10, 2024
Clancy said the company paid out more than $1 billion to streamers last year, but added, “Twitch's business remains strong, but for some time now the size of the organization has been lower than our business has been for more than three years.” Decisions have been made based on optimistically anticipated conditions, where we are today.'' Clancy will host a livestream discussing the impact of the new layoffs.
Twitch had already cut employees this year as part of a large-scale layoff at parent company Amazon. The company also underwent major internal restructuring, including the resignation of several key executives. Additionally, Twitch announced plans to cease operations in South Korea due to high network costs, reflecting the financial and operational issues the company is facing.
Amazon also plans to cut jobs at its movie and TV streaming platform Prime Video and at its legendary Hollywood production studio MGM Studios. Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, wrote in an email to staff: “It was a difficult decision,'' he added.
read more The Verge here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News, covering free speech and online censorship issues.
