Twitch to Lay Off 500 Staffers Alongside Amazon Prime Video and Studios Cuts

Amazon’s streaming outlet Twitch is laying off 500 staffers, according to a memo from CEO Dan Clancy to employees.

The job cuts are being made alongside layoffs at Prime Video and Amazon Studios, which plan to cut hundreds of staffers according to a memo from division leader Mike Hopkins.

In a memo to staffers, Clancy wrote “As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible. Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company.”

“I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch,” Clancy continued. “This will be a very hard day.”

“Over the last year, we’ve been working to build a more sustainable business so that Twitch will be here for the long run and throughout the year we have cut costs and made many decisions to be more efficient,” the CEO said. “Unfortunately, despite these efforts, it has become clear that our organization is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business.”

“Last year, we paid out over $1 billion to streamers,” Clancy noted. “So while the Twitch business remains strong, for some time now the organization has been sized based upon where we optimistically expect our business to be in 3 or more years, not where we’re at today.”

“This decision, while incredibly difficult and painful, is necessary to ensure that we can continue to serve our streamers sustainably without impacting their ability to support their careers on Twitch,” Clancy said.

Those impacted by the layoffs will be receiving an email shortly with the news and details on the transition.

“For everyone who is leaving Twitch today, I know how important it is to say goodbye to your colleagues, so you will retain access to Slack and your email until 1 PM PT,” Clancy added.

The news of Twitch’s layoffs was originally reported on Tuesday by Bloomberg. Clancy referenced what he considered a “leak,” in a blog post announcing the layoffs officially.

This comes as earlier today, Twitch’s corporate siblings Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios announced layoffs as well. Amazon is planning to cut hundreds of jobs from the division.

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