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After the recent announcements about 500 employees being laid off, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy addressed the community in a livestream, revealing that the platform is not profitable at this point. The Amazon-owned website has cut hundreds from its workforce in a bid to stay sustainable over the last couple of years, and it appears that it still hasn't been able to be in the green.
The livestreaming space has grown at an exponential rate since the last decade, getting a huge boost of users during the pandemic. Twitch has been at the forefront of that boom, establishing itself as the most popular website to stream on despite stiff competition from rivals such as YouTube and Facebook Gaming. Despite its success in having captured the lion's share of the market, it appears that the purple platform is not profitable, as the CEO revealed:
"We have implied this before, where we say we need to run it sustainably. But I'll be blunt, we are not profitable at this point."
"The answer is emphatically no": Twitch CEO Dan Clancy addresses concerns about being shut down by Amazon
Dan Clancy took over Twitch back in March 2023. Since then, he has distinguished himself from his predecessors by taking quite an active role in the community. Dan himself streams on his channel on the platform quite frequently and has been collaborating with other North American streamers regularly.
However, his ascendence to the top job at the website also coincided with several layoffs which upset many people, especially after some employees who had lost their jobs claimed that they were not informed before the information was publicly announced in a blog.
Earlier this week, a news report came out suggesting that Twitch would be doing another big round of layoffs, this time cutting back on around 35% of its workforce. In the wake of the news, many in the community expressed concern for the company's future.
In a bid to be more transparent, Dan Clancy addressed a variety of issues in a livestream today and went on to praise Amazon for being supportive. However, he also emphasized the need to downsize to remain viable, claiming that his job is to make sure the website doesn't lose money so that it can be there for the long term:
"Amazon has been extremely supportive of Twitch and the big thing about being sustainable over time is ensuring that we don't lose money. And that's a big part of my job to make sure we are here for long term."
He also allayed any fears that community members might have had about Amazon's plans for the future. Answering a direct question from the live audience, the CEO stated:
"Is Twitch currently at risk of being axed by Amazon? The answer is emphatically no. Not at all. Amazon is very bullish on Twitch. As I said, they have been investing heavily..."
Several up-and-coming live-streaming platforms, such as Kick and Rumble, have cropped up in the last few years, and as the competition to dominate the space continues, only time will tell how the purple platform fares.
