TLDR: After Prime, Amazon’s Twitch and Audible face layoffs due to financial issues

Key Points:

• Amazon’s Twitch, the gaming streaming unit, is laying off 500 employees due to financial struggles.
• Audible, another division of Amazon, is planning to cut 5% of its workforce.

Amazon’s gamer streaming unit Twitch announced that it was laying off one-third of its staff, which amounts to 500 employees, due to financial struggles. Audible, a division of Amazon, is also planning to cut 5% of its workforce in another round of job cuts in the tech industry. Twitch CEO Dan Clancy stated in a blog post that the decision to reduce the size of the workforce was difficult but necessary for the company’s future. Audible CEO Bob Carrigan sent a memo to employees saying that the company is in good shape, but is facing an increasingly challenging landscape. The job cuts at Twitch and Audible come after Amazon announced layoffs in its entertainment division as well as in Prime Video and MGM Studios. Many tech companies, including Amazon, have been hiring during the pandemic but are now cutting costs to focus on profitability as inflation and interest rates rise. These recent layoffs at Amazon follow mass layoffs that began in late 2022 and have affected over 27,000 employees. Other tech companies, such as Google, Xerox, and Unity Software, have also announced layoffs in recent days. This indicates that the industry’s job shedding is far from over.

Overall, it seems that Amazon’s Twitch and Audible divisions are facing financial issues that have led to job cuts. This is part of a larger trend in the tech industry where companies are focusing on profitability and cutting costs. The layoffs at Twitch and Audible join other recent job cuts at Amazon and other tech companies, signaling that the industry is still struggling with job losses.