Photo Credit: ilgmyzin
Twitch has announced layoffs impacting around 400 people as part of Amazon’s broader layoffs. Details on other Amazon divisions, including Amazon Music, remain scant.
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear stepped down from his role just weeks before the layoffs were announced. New Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs as one of his first official acts in the role. “Today I shared with Twitch employees that we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our workforce, which results in us having to say goodbye to just over 400 people,” the announcement begins.
“Like many companies, our business has been impacted by the current macroeconomic environment, and user and revenue growth has not kept pace with our expectations. In order to run our business sustainably, we’ve made the very difficult decision to shrink the size of our workforce.”
That decision has caused confusion and chaos for employees of Twitch. As of writing, Twitch employees are aware of the layoffs—but have no idea if they’re impacted. According to one employee, they were told they’ll know as “soon as early next week” whether or not they still have jobs with the live streaming platform.
“I’m disappointed to share the news this way before we’re able to communicate directly to those who will be impacted, but it’s important for you to hear directly from me confirming this difficult news,” Clancy wrote in the email announcing the layoffs to his staff. Twitch has not confirmed its total headcount and will not comment further on the announced layoffs.
The platform was founded in 2007 as Justin.tv before rebranding to Twitch Interactive in 2014. After the rebranding, Amazon purchased the platform for more than $1 billion. The platform dominated the streaming space for several years, but YouTube and TikTok have live streams have provided additional platforms that aren’t just centered on streaming games and music. These Twitch layoffs were part of Amazon’s second round of layoffs this year, impacting more than 18,000 people across the company.