Amazon’s Twitch to lay off 500 employees, or 35% of its workforce

Twitch, the live-streaming platform owned by Amazon.com Inc., is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by around 35%, or approximately 500 employees, according to a report from Bloomberg. Individuals familiar with the situation said that this move is part of a series of job cuts occurring at Twitch.

These reductions are expected to be officially announced as early as Wednesday. The decision comes amidst worries about financial losses at Twitch and following the departure of several key executives within a short period, Bloomberg reported. When reached for comment, a spokesperson for Twitch chose not to provide any statement on the matter.

The news comes a few days after Unity Software, a San Francisco-based video game software provider, underwent its largest layoff ever, cutting around 25% of its workforce, equivalent to 1,800 jobs.

Twitch is the latest in a series of tech companies to announce staff cuts. In recent months, tech companies, crypto exchanges, financial firms, and banks have reduced their headcount and slowed hiring as global economic growth weakens due to looming recession, inflation, and higher interest rates.

According to Layoffs.FYI, a site that tracks tech layoffs using data compiled from public reports, more than 17 tech companies have laid off 2,945 workers so far this year.

Amazon acquired Twitch in 2014. Since then, it has tried to combine it with other Prime services, like Amazon Music and Prime Gaming, once called Twitch Prime.