The tech layoffs continue, and employees at Snap are reportedly the latest unfortunate victims.
The social media company will lay off 20% of its workforce, which stands at more than 6,400, or about 1,280 workers. Layoffs are slated to begin today, according to the company, and some departments such as hardware (selfie drone, anyone?) and the Snap-owned social mapping app Zenly are expected to be hit hard. Snap said it was suffering slowest revenue growth ever amid declining economic conditions that follow its own rapid expansion.
Gizmodo reached out to Snap on Wednesday morning for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Snap has almost doubled in size since the start of the pandemic, going from roughly 3,400 employees in March 2020 to about 6,400 at the end of the second quarter.
Layoffs at Snap aren’t entirely a surprise considering the disappointing financial results it reported in July. At that time, Snap said it would slow hiring and declined to provide revenue guidance for the third quarter of the year, citing “uncertainties related to the operating environment.”
Like its other social media peers, Snap has been hit by Apple’s ad tracking changes on iOS, which asks users whether they want the app to track their activity online for advertising purposes. In its second-quarter earnings call, the company added that it’s seen an impact from persistently high inflation, rising interest rates, and rising geopolitical risks associated with the war in Ukraine.
Snap has lost almost two-thirds of its value in 2022, CNBC reported. On Wednesday morning, the company’s stock had declined roughly 8% in pre-market trading. News of the layoffs comes at the same time Netflix poached two top executives from Snap. The streaming company hired Snap’s chief business officer Jeremi Gorman and Vice President of Sales Peter Naylor.
Despite all this, the messaging app is still a highly popular platform among teen users. So even though things are a bit shaky for Snap, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to fade away just yet.