Livestream platform Twitch confirmed that it is cutting more than 400 roles as part of the widespread layoffs at its parent company, Amazon.
On Monday (March 20), Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced that the e-commerce giant will slash 9,000 more jobs “in the next few weeks” in addition to its previously announced plan to cut 18,000 roles.
Twitch, which Amazon acquired in 2014 for just under $1 billion, was not exempt from the layoffs.
The video game live streaming platform, in a blog post on Monday (March 20), said the decision to let go of “over 400 people… was incredibly difficult and one we did not make without considerable thought.”
“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.”
Dan Clancy, Twitch
It follows the resignation of Twitch founder Emmett Shear as the company’s CEO last week after over 16 years in the role.
Shear co-founded live streaming platform Justin.tv, which later became Twitch.
“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,” Twitch’s newly appointed CEO Dan Clancy said.
“I and the rest of the leadership team are confident that we have big opportunities ahead to support you and grow Twitch.”
Dan Clancy, Twitch
Despite the job shedding, Clancy says he is bullish on Twitch’s future.
“I and the rest of the leadership team are confident that we have big opportunities ahead to support you and grow Twitch,” Clancy said, adding: “Our singular focus has always been on inspiring, growing and sustaining our streamers globally, and that will never change.”
In 2022, Twitch’s revenue is estimated to have grown to $2.8 billion from $2.68 billion a year earlier, according to Business of Apps, while the number of users on its platform is tipped to have shrunk to 7.6 million from 9 million in 2021.
Twitch has been intertwined with the music industry in recent years. Twitch has existing partnerships with independent label agencies like Merlin and with major record labels like Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as with music publishers.
The company even launched an incubator program called The Collective in November 2021, as part of what it says is a “continued investment in its music communities.”
Elsewhere at Amazon, TechCrunch reported on Tuesday (March 21) that 10% of the layoffs at the wider group will come from Amazon Web Services or AWS, which provides on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs.
Amazon’s Jassy recently addressed questions about why the company is carrying out its role reductions in stages.
“The short answer is that not all of the teams were done with their analyses in the late fall; and rather than rush through these assessments without the appropriate diligence, we chose to share these decisions as we’ve made them so people had the information as soon as possible.”
You can read Twitch CEO Dan Clancy’s blog post in full below:
An update about our workforce
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. As a company focused on building community together, this decision was incredibly difficult and one we did not make without considerable thought.
Our mission at Twitch is to empower communities to create, together. You rely on us to give you the tools you need to build your communities, stream your passions safely, and make money doing what you love. We take this responsibility incredibly seriously and sometimes need to make extremely hard decisions to ensure we protect our business in order for Twitch to be around for a long time.
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.
Millions of streamers choose Twitch every day to build and engage with their communities. I and the rest of the leadership team are confident that we have big opportunities ahead to support you and grow Twitch. Our singular focus has always been on inspiring, growing and sustaining our streamers globally, and that will never change.
– Dan ClancyMusic Business Worldwide