Twitch cuts 35% of its workforce

It has been reported that Twitch, a distribution platform affiliated with Amazon, plans to lay off 35% of its employees, or approximately 500 people. This is said to be due to Twitch's dependence on Amazon's infrastructure, which costs a huge amount of money to maintain its services.

Amazon's Twitch to Cut 500 Employees, About 35% of Staff - Bloomberg

According to Bloomberg, Twitch's layoffs will be announced as early as January 11, 2024. The reason for the reduction in personnel is said to be ``concerns about losses,'' and it is said that the background is that the video distribution platform is costing more than expected.

Twitch distributes 1.8 billion hours of content per month, and Twitch executives say their current concern is that the cost is unprofitable. In this context, Twitch is terminating its services, especially in South Korea, where the cost of using the telecommunications network was much higher than in other countries.

Twitch announces termination of service in Korea, reasons why service must be terminated in Korea & summary of reactions of streamers who are also active in Japan - GIGAZINE

If this layoff were to be carried out, including past layoffs, Twitch would lose half its employees in one year.

Amazon, Twitch's parent company, has laid off more than 27,000 employees in 2023, and as a result of this, Twitch was forced to reduce its workforce by about 400 people. Immediately before this incident, Emmett Shea, who had been CEO of Twitch for 16 years, resigned, and by the end of 2023, many executives, including chief product officer, chief customer officer, and chief content officer, will be retiring from Twitch. has left.

As Twitch's executive retirements and personnel reductions continue, Dan Clancy, who has been newly appointed CEO, is reportedly focusing on improving the advertising system and repairing relationships with streamers.