Twitch staff are concerned a third round of layoffs could hit the streaming platform, following 500 job cuts earlier this year and 400 in 2023.
That’s according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, which states Amazon paid almost $1bn for Twitch but it’s now making less money and engagement has slowed.
The company is set to have an annual operational review this autumn and staff are concerned more job losses could follow. Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy has led a profitability review at Twitch and shown little tolerance for unprofitable business, the Journal reports.
Sources at Twitch are concerned the platform could become a “zombie brand” at Amazon. These are projects or acquisitions that are sidelined for not living up to expectations – Goodreads and Woot are two examples.
A spokeswoman for Amazon told the Journal it has always taken a long-term view of Twitch and noted its ability to attract harder-to-reach audiences. The company said it remains confident in Twitch’s potential.
At the start of the year, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy admitted the company isn’t profitable, shortly after layoffs were announced.
Amazon doesn’t publicly reveal revenue figures for Twitch, but internal documents reviewed by the Journal suggest it generated about $667m in ad revenue and $1.3bn in commerce revenue in 2023. This accounts for less than 0.5 percent of Amazon’s total revenue for the year.