Amazon lays off more than 500 employees in its Twitch unit


Amazon is laying off about 500 employees in its Twitch livestreaming unit, an government overseeing the enterprise wrote in a memo to staffers Wednesday.

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy mentioned the cuts had been being made in an effort to “rightsize our firm” and align its headcount with the present dimension of the enterprise.

Amazon acquired Twitch for nearly $1 billion in 2014. The web site is most referred to as a well-liked livestreaming platform for video avid gamers. After shopping for Twitch, Amazon was largely palms off with the unit, although it has supplied Prime subscribers perks on the livestreaming platform, equivalent to free video games and in-game loot.

“I do know a lot of you might be questioning why that is taking place. Over the final yr, we have been working to construct a more sustainable enterprise in order that Twitch will likely be right here for the long term and all year long we now have minimize prices and made many choices to be more environment friendly,” Clancy wrote. “Unfortunately, regardless of these efforts, it has change into clear that our group remains to be meaningfully bigger than it must be given the dimensions of our enterprise.  Last yr we paid out over $1 billion to streamers. So whereas the Twitch enterprise stays robust, for a while now the group has been sized primarily based upon the place we optimistically count on our enterprise to be in 3 or more years, not the place we’re at in the present day.”

The layoffs signify the third spherical of cuts at Twitch in much less than a yr. Last March, Twitch let go of roughly 400 staffers, and it minimize some employees in its buyer expertise division final October.

The unit has additionally seen turnover in its highest ranks. Longtime CEO Emmett Shear stepped down final March, turning the helm over to Clancy, most not too long ago Twitch’s president. The firm’s chief buyer officer, Doug Scott, announced his departure late final yr, whereas Chief Content Officer Laura Lee also announced her exit from the corporate final month.

Amazon has undergone the most important layoffs in its historical past, reducing 27,000 employees since 2022. The cuts have been ongoing, with Amazon asserting layoffs in its Prime Video and MGM Studios models on Wednesday.

Team,

Today I’ve some extremely troublesome information to share. As you all know, we now have labored laborious over the past yr to run our enterprise as sustainably as attainable. Unfortunately, we nonetheless have work to do to rightsize our firm and I remorse having to share that we’re taking the painful step to cut back our headcount by simply over 500 individuals throughout Twitch. This will likely be a really laborious day. Our service exists to empower communities to create, collectively, and each single certainly one of you has performed an important position in fostering our group and furthering that mission. 

I do know a lot of you might be questioning why that is taking place. Over the final yr, we have been working to construct a more sustainable enterprise in order that Twitch will likely be right here for the long term and all year long we now have minimize prices and made many choices to be more environment friendly. Unfortunately, regardless of these efforts, it has change into clear that our group remains to be meaningfully bigger than it must be given the dimensions of our enterprise.  Last yr we paid out over $1 billion to streamers. So whereas the Twitch enterprise stays robust, for a while now the group has been sized primarily based upon the place we optimistically count on our enterprise to be in 3 or more years, not the place we’re at in the present day. As with many different firms in the tech house, we are actually sizing our group primarily based upon the present scale of our enterprise and conservative predictions of how we count on to develop in the longer term.

This resolution, whereas extremely troublesome and painful, is important to make sure that we will proceed to serve our streamers sustainably with out impacting their capacity to assist their careers on Twitch. Part of what makes this so troublesome is the fervour that so a lot of you share for the Twitch group, and the laborious work you have put into serving our streamers. 

I do know you all are questioning what this resolution means for you and your position transferring ahead. While we all know it’s higher to listen to concerning the impression nose to nose, we understand that it’s more necessary to share the information with the affected people as shortly as attainable. With that in thoughts, this is what you possibly can count on inside the subsequent hour. 

If your position is affected by this resolution and you reside in the US, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, or Singapore.

In the following couple of minutes, I’ll ship an electronic mail to this group of individuals sharing the unlucky information that your place is being eradicated and necessary particulars on all the pieces we’re doing to assist you thru this transition. Afterward, your org chief will attain out instantly by way of electronic mail with more particular details about your severance package deal and to provide the possibility to talk with them individually. These 1:1 conferences will happen over the following few days. 

If your position is affected by this resolution and also you’re in any nation not listed above. 

In the following couple of minutes, you’ll obtain an electronic mail from Lauren Nunes with more particular info on the method and subsequent steps, which range by nation. 

For everybody who’s leaving Twitch in the present day, I understand how necessary it’s to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you’ll retain entry to Slack and your electronic mail till 1 PM PT (in case you are in Singapore, you’ll have entry till 12 PM native time).

If your position was not affected. 

I’ll ship one other electronic mail to this group confirming your position was not affected by this resolution. Afterwards, I plan to host regional All Hands all through the day so that you all can hear from me instantly. Details on the time of those periods and calendar invitations will come by means of later this morning. 

I additionally need to acknowledge how disenchanted I used to be yesterday that this info leaked. I’m sorry for the entire nervousness that it brought about over the past a number of hours. Our hope was that you simply all would hear from us this morning and really shortly perceive how this impacted your position and we had been sadly not capable of speed up the timeline, which I do know may be very irritating. 

I need to shut with my sincerest apology to everybody who’s leaving Twitch. You are a few of the most gifted, dedicated, and artistic individuals I’ve ever labored with. Thank you for all the pieces you have performed to assist us construct Twitch and foster our group. 

We are all right here as a result of we consider in the facility of Twitch and our group – and whereas our mission is much from over, proper now our focus is on caring for one another. I’m at all times grateful for the way properly you all assist and present up for each other throughout our greatest and most troublesome moments. 

– Dan 



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