Discord To Lay off 170 Staff Pointing The Finger At Growing Too Fast

In recent years, mostly following the pandemic, many companies have faced issues that have led to mass layoffs including many of the big players in the industry such as Microsoft and Intel. There are lots of factors at play including the changing economy, changing tech markets and a large shift in how we work with the popularity of hybrid and remote working. All of these factors have made companies realise that changes need to be made to ensure their profits stay high, or more realistically their shareholders stay happy. One such company facing these issues is Discord who are facing a layoff for around 170 of its staff.

Discord To Layoff 17% of Its Staff

An internal memo from Discords CEO Jason Citron was acquired by The Verge which outlines the unfortunate plans to layoff 17% of its staff which is stated to impact 170 people across various departments. Now the reasoning for this isn’t due to major finance problems, but Discord hasn’t actually became a profitable company which can explain the several updates including the Discord Shop which are aimed at working towards a profit.

The actual explanation which was given by Citron is one that has been heard several times before and is a common trap that many growing companies fall into, growing too fast. A section of the memo shared stated “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.” 

It’s always unfortunate to hear about layoff’s, especially on such a scale. Citron stated the plans for the staff who would be getting laid off which include five months of salary + benefits and then an extra week of salary for every full year at Discord, three months of outplacement services, continued access to modern health through the end of 2024 and more.