- The Washington Times - Thursday, March 30, 2023

Roku announced Wednesday plans to fire 200 employees, or 6% of its workforce, as the trend of belt-tightening continues across the industry.

The layoffs are part of an overall restructuring plan to lower expenses.

Part of that shifting involves eliminating office space. According to the announcement, the company will end certain leases of offices that the company is not occupying, a trend that has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company estimates it will be hit with about $35 million in nonrecurring fees, including severance pay and other employee-related expenses.

Roku previously laid off 200 employees last fall, citing similar issues with advertising revenue and a challenging economy.

Twitter has gone through similar changes to its structure, though at a much larger scale. The company fired massive amounts of staff and moved to exit certain leases on office buildings that management saw as unimportant.

Among other large companies, Disney and Warner Music announced new rounds of layoffs recently.

Many industry leaders point to increasing costs of labor as well as rising interest rates as major reasons for the firings.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.

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