Amazon’s gamer streaming unit Twitch on Wednesday announced that it was laying off one-third of its staff, that is, 500 employees, from the company due to financial struggle. Besides this, the company’s Audible section is also planning to cut 5% of its workforce in another round of job cuts in tech.
The online shopping giant also stated that it was slashing hundreds of employees in its entertainment division.
In a blog post, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wrote, “I wanted to send a short note to let you know that we’ve made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our workforce today.”
On the other hand, Audible CEO Bob Carrigan sent a memo to employees on Thursday saying that the company is in good shape, but faces an “increasingly challenging landscape, AP reported.
“We did not take this route without considerable thought. But getting leaner and more efficient is the way we will need to operate now — and in the foreseeable future — in order to continue delivering best-in-class audio storytelling to our customers around the world, Carrigan said.
The layoffs at Audible follow others announced this week in Amazon’s Prime Video and MGM Studios unit, which is trimming hundreds of employees from its payroll as it cuts back in areas that are not delivering.
The e-commerce giant announced that it will lay off several hundred employees in its Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.
Tech companies like Amazon ramped up hiring during the pandemic, but they began cutting costs as inflation and interest rates spiked and their focus turned to profitability.
The recent job cuts follow mass layoffs that began at Amazon in late 2022 and have impacted more than 27,000 employees.
Other tech companies — including Google, IT company Xerox, and video game software provider Unity Software — have also announced layoffs in recent days, signaling the industry’s job shedding is far from over.
(With AP inputs)
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