Amazon’s Twitch set to cut 35% of its workforce

Twitch, Amazon.com’s livestreaming platform, is reportedly planning to reduce its workforce by 35%, equivalent to around 500 employees, as part of a cost-cutting initiative. The potential job cuts, expected to be announced soon, follow concerns over losses at Twitch and a series of high-level executive departures in recent months.

Managing a large-scale website that supports 1.8 billion hours of live video content each month is financially demanding, despite Twitch’s reliance on Amazon’s infrastructure.

In December, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy revealed plans to cease operations in South Korea due to “prohibitively expensive” costs.

Despite an increased focus on advertising, Twitch remains unprofitable, even nine years after Amazon’s acquisition. In late 2023, several key executives, including the chief product officer, chief customer officer, chief content officer, and chief revenue officer, departed from the company.

While Twitch has worked to address concerns raised by gaming celebrities who use the platform, the company has struggled to stem losses. This potential reduction in the workforce follows two rounds of layoffs in the previous year, affecting over 400 positions, as part of broader job cuts at Amazon.

The e-commerce giant initiated significant corporate job cuts in 2022, expanding to 27,000 positions across the company and further reductions in October within its music division.