Twitch recently announced having undergone a massive layoff, with more than 400 employees losing their jobs. The news comes as part of a larger round of layoffs across Amazon, the parent company which currently owns Twitch. Amazon suffered over 9,000 layoffs across all of its divisions over the course of this past year.
The new Chief Executive Officer at Twitch Dan Clancy explained in a blog post how the company had to let go of 400 workers in order to cut costs. "User and revenue growth has not kept pace with our expectations," Clancy remarked about the matter. "In order to run our business sustainably, we’ve made the very difficult decision to shrink the size of our workforce."
The now former CEO at Twitch Emmett Shear announced his departure from the company earlier today on March 20, 2023. "With my first child just born, I’ve been reflecting on my future with Twitch," Shear explained. "Twitch often feels to me like a child I’ve been raising as well. And while I will always want to be there if Twitch needs me, at 16 years old, it feels to me Twitch is ready to move out of the house and venture alone. So, it is with great poignancy that I share my decision to resign from Twitch as CEO."
Clancy previously served as the company's president prior to Shear's departure. Clancy has been with Twitch since 2018 and has well over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. The executive claims to have "big opportunities ahead to support" streamers and their communities in the wake of these layoffs, but it remains unclear what precisely this entails. Some have been speculating that Twitch may be looking to diversify its revenue streams, possibly offering additional services to streamers and content creators beyond advertising.
Twitch remains a dominant player in the streaming industry. The platform has seen explosive growth in recent years, with more than 30 million daily active users and over 3 million monthly streamers. Twitch has also been successful in securing partnerships with major brands and companies in the games industry. The layoffs naturally come as a surprise to many of those affected.
The news about the layoffs and the departure of Shear from the company has understandably left many Twitch employees and fans concerned about the platform's future. Clancy has assured the community, on the other hand, that Twitch remains committed to supporting its streamers, content creators, and of course viewers.
“Millions of streamers choose Twitch every day to build and engage with their communities,” Clancy explained in the blog post. “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.”