The logo for live-streaming video platform Twitch is seen on Nov. 4, 2017, at the Paris games week in Paris, France. Twitch is laying off more than 500 employees, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, as the company looks to get to a more appropriate size, according to the streaming platform's CEO Dan Clancy. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
Twitch, the video game streaming platform acquired by Amazon a decade ago for close to $1 billion, is laying off more than 500 employees as the company tries to turn the tremendously expensive division profitable.
Twitch CEO Dan Clancy in an email to employees said that even with cost cuts and growing efficiency, the platform “is still meaningfully larger than it needs to be given the size of our business.”
“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,” Clancy wrote.
Amazon purchased Twitch Interactive in 2014 for $970 million as it looked for a way to take part in video gaming’s growth as an online spectator sport.
Twitch is a multi-channel online network built for a generation of people raised with video games and like to watch some of the best gamers in the world as many people watch professional sports.
Last month Twitch, based in San Francisco, said that it was withdrawing from the South Korean market due to expensive network fees. Clancy said at the time that the network fees the company has been paying to South Korean internet operators were 10 times more than in most other markets. He did not provide specific numbers to back such claims.
“As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. “Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch.”
Amazon has cut thousands of jobs after a hiring surge during the pandemic. In March, Amazon announced that it planned to lay off 9,000 employees. That was on top of the 18,000 employees the tech giant said that it would lay off in January 2023.
Job cuts are occurring elsewhere in the company this week.
Amazon is cutting several hundred positions across its Prime Video and MGM Studios unit. Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in a note to employees that the company is boosting investment in areas with the most impact, while stepping back from others.
Stephen Kates, Financial Analyst at Bankrate, joins to discuss the Fed’s 25-basis-point rate cut, inflation risks, and what it all means for consumers and marke
Big tech earnings take center stage as investors digest results from Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, with insights from Gil Luria of D.A. Davidson
Disney content has gone dark on YouTube TV, leaving subscribers of the Google-owned live streaming platform without access to major networks like ESPN and ABC. That’s because the companies have failed to reach a new licensing deal to keep Disney channels on YouTube TV. Depending on how long it lasts, the dispute could particularly impact coverage of U.S. college football matchups over the weekend — on top of other news and entertainment disruptions that have already arrived. In the meantime, YouTube TV subscribers who want to watch Disney channels could have little choice other than turning to the company’s own platforms, which come with their own price tags.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
