Discord lays off 170 people, becomes latest company to say it grew too much during the pandemic and now needs to be 'more agile'

pcgamer.com:

Just one day after streaming service Twitch announced that it is laying off 500 employees, Discord has joined the parade: A report from The Verge says the company is cutting 170 employees, representing 17% of its workforce. A Discord representative confirmed with PC Gamer that The Verge's report is accurate.

Discord is an extremely popular social media platform, but CEO Jason Citron said in a memo sent to employees today that the company's employee count has increased by five times since 2020, and that «as a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.»

«Today, we are increasingly clear on the need to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization,» Citron said. «This is what largely drove the decision to reduce the size of our workforce.

»While difficult, I am confident this will put us in the best position to continue building a strong and profitable business that delivers amazing products for our users and supports our mission for years to come."

Discord doesn't appear to be facing any immediate financial difficulties. The Verge report says the company has raised roughly $1 billion in funding and is currently sitting on more than $700 million in cash. But while the company's valuation has skyrocketed—a CNBC report pegged it at $15 billion in 2021 following a $500 million funding round, up from a $3.5 billion valuation in 2020—profitability has apparently remained elusive. One source told The Verge that Discord hopes to become profitable this year.

Citron concluded his 'no hard feelings' email by saying that he hopes working on Discord reinforced the idea that friendships «can be sustained and even strengthened beyond the 'walls' of any