According to people familiar with the plans, Amazon Inc.’s live streaming platform Twitch is set to lay off 35% of its workforce, or approximately 500 people, marking the latest in a string of employment cuts. The changes, which might be disclosed as early as Wednesday, come amid concerns about Twitch’s losses and the departure of several top executives in recent months. Twitch’s spokesman declined to comment.
Running a large-scale website that supports 1.8 billion hours of live video content every month is extremely expensive, despite Twitch’s reliance on Amazon’s infrastructure, business executives have stated. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy announced in December that the firm would suspend operations in South Korea because the prices are “prohibitively expensive,” according to a blog post he posted.
Twitch also lost its chief revenue officer, who worked for Amazon’s Ads unit
Twitch has shifted its priority to advertising in recent years. According to the persons who wanted not to be identified because they were talking about private information, the company remained unprofitable nine years after Amazon acquired it. Several prominent executives announced their exits in late 2023, including Twitch’s chief product officer, chief customer officer, and chief content officer. Twitch also lost its chief revenue officer, who worked for Amazon’s Ads unit.
“It’s always bittersweet when talented leaders leave to pursue new opportunities,” a Twitch representative explained at the time. “We are incredibly grateful for their contributions to Twitch and our community, and wish them all the best.” All former employees declined to comment. Clancy has been on a cross-country charm blitz since taking the role in March 2023 to improve relations with gaming celebrities who make a fortune by streaming on Twitch. Many of them were dissatisfied with Twitch’s initial ad strategy, which the firm revised in response to criticism. Streamers welcomed Clancy’s willingness to listen to their issues following years of criticism that the service was out of touch with its customers.
However, the new leader has been unable to cut losses. Twitch went through two rounds of layoffs last year, eliminating roughly 400 workers as part of Amazon’s larger job cuts. In 2022, the online retail behemoth announced its largest-ever corporate employment layoffs, which grew to 27,000 people across the organization. In October, it announced a second wave of cuts to its music sector, which includes the company’s audio streaming platform and digital storefront for songs.