The Amazon-owned livestreaming platform, Twitch, is reportedly reducing its work force by 35 per cent – that is, around 500 jobs. The company had laid off more than 400 employees in March last year. The business remains unprofitable even nine years after it was acquired by the company, the Bloomberg News report said.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, who took over from witch co-founder and longstanding CEO Emmett Shear, had said in December that the company
would shut down operations in South Korea in February 2024, because of high operating costs and network fees. The resignation of some prominent executives too was a contributing factor, according to Bloomberg News. Clancy had described operating in South Korea as "prohibitively expensive".
In a blog post announcing the closure in South Korea, Clancy said that the firm had been running at a "significant loss" and that there was "no path forward" to make profit.
The news coincided with reports of Videogame software provider Unity
Software planning to lay off approximately 25 per cent of its workforce, or 1,800 jobs. This is the company's largest layoff ever, the company said.
The move is part of the San Francisco-based company's decision to focus on its core business. Over a million game creators, including the maker of the popular Pokemon Go, Beat Saber and Hearthstone games, use its software toolkit.
Interim CEO Jim Whitehurst had announced a company reset in November. This is the fourth round of layoffs in the company since July 2022.
