Popular live streaming platform Twitch is getting smacked with another round of layoffs as financial issues continue at the Amazon-owned company.
CEO Dan Clancy announced the planned layoffs in a Wednesday blog post, noting that Twitch plans to cut around 500 employees, or 35% of its workforce.
He didn’t say which parts of the company will be affected. Workers are expected to receive notice by the end of this week.
“Over the last year, we’ve been working to build a more sustainable business so that Twitch will be here for the long run, and throughout the year we have cut costs and made many decisions to be more efficient. Unfortunately, despite these efforts, it has become clear that our organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be, given the size of our business,” Mr. Clancy wrote.
The cuts follow similar layoffs early in 2023.
The move toward a leaner workforce at Twitch is its latest effort to turn a profit. Citing “prohibitively expensive” network fees, the company announced it will soon close operations in South Korea, one of the largest gaming markets in the world.
Twitch has struggled to break even for years. Despite having more users and streamers than ever, helped by the global pandemic, the company has struggled to keep up with expenses. Twitch switched to a more advertising-focused model last year, drawing the ire of some users and streamers, but failed to bring in much of the expected revenue.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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