Discord Initiates Major Workforce Reduction, Lays Off 17% of Employees

Discord, the popular messaging and video calling platform, has announced a significant reduction in its workforce, laying off 17 percent of its staff in a strategic move to streamline operations.

The Verge reports Discord has joined the ranks of a number of other tech firms in 2024, laying off a significant amount of its workforce. The company recently announced it plans to lay off 17 percent of its workforce, which is equivalent to around 170 employees.

This appears to be part of Discord’s new strategy that aims to “sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together,” according to an internal memo from CEO Jason Citron.

Jason Citron CEO of Discord has distributed a memo explaining the staff drawdown

The decision was conveyed to employees in an all-hands meeting, accompanied by an internal memo, marking the largest layoff in Discord’s history. Discord claims that the company is not facing any immediate financial difficulties, but is instead realigning its operations to foster more efficient user growth and operational efficiency.

Citron stated in the memo: “We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020. As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.”

This reduction in workforce at Discord is consistent with similar reductions that have been made across the tech industry. Even notable tech giants like Google and Amazon have reported significant cuts.

It's January 11 and the following companies have done layoffs so far:

– Discord
– Google
– Beam Benefits
– Amazon Prime Video
– Citrix
– X
– Twitch
– Branch
– Humane
– Unity
– Lever
– InVision
– Frontdesk
– Xerox
– BlackRock
– Cloudflare (unannounced layoffs, shared by ex-CF…

— Vic 🌮 (@VicVijayakumar) January 12, 2024

Despite the layoffs Discord doesn’t appear to be facing financial issues, raising approximately $1 billion in funding and sitting on over $700 million in cash reserves.

The company aims to achieve profitability within the current fiscal year and is still considering an IPO to take the company public after declining a $12 billion acquisition offer from Microsoft in 2021.

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