Discord Lays Off 170 Employees In Hopes Of Turning A Profit After A Multi-Year Slump

There seems to be no end to the layoffs happening in the video game and tech industries as Discord announces that it’s letting of 17% of its workforce on top of the 4% that were let go back in August. 170 employees are being dismissed in the VOIP platform’s latest round of layoffs as it works to sharpen its focus after ramping up faster than it could handle over the past three years.

“We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020,” Discord CEO Jason Citron explained in an internal memo published by The Verge. “As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.”

According to insiders familiar with the matter, Discord hasn’t been profitable for some time now and is hoping to turn things around with the recent layoffs. The company is also reportedly looking to go public after it turned down Microsoft’s offer to acquire it for $12 billion, although the initial public offering is apparently still a long way off.

Meanwhile, affected employees will receive a severance package which will include five months of salary and benefits, healthcare benefits for the remainder of 2024, and equity vesting in February.

“This is a decision we did not take lightly, but it is one that we have conviction in to better serve our users, our business and our mission over the long term,” Citron said.