Game chat tool developer Discord lays off 17% of its staff

Game chat application developer Discord announced on Thursday that it will lay off 17%, or 170 employees, joining the ranks of more and more technology companies that have announced layoffs at the beginning of 2024. The company's CEO, Jason Citron, said in an internal memo that the layoffs were necessary because Discord needed to improve efficiency after the hiring frenzy of 2020. Since the beginning of 2024, several technology companies have announced layoffs, including Amazon's live streaming site Twitch, game engine giant Unity Software, Japanese cybersecurity company Trend Micro, and Google's parent company Alphabet.