Substack is the latest tech company to announce layoffs, with company CEO Chris Best tweet on wednesday That he is letting go of 13 workers. According to axios, this accounts for about 14 percent of Substack’s workforce. In his letter and follow-up tweets, Best cited “market conditions” as the reason behind the layoffs.
He also admits that the move may come as a surprise to some employees. “Not long ago, I told you all that our plan was to grow the team and not lay off,” he says, noting that the company “is still hiring for specific key roles” and Money left. However, Best says the company needs to change strategy, as it could face “an extended period” where the economy goes from bad to worse. He says the layoffs are just one of several changes the company has made to ensure “a strong financial position.”
The people we are saying goodbye to today are all talented, great people who think deeply about helping readers and writers. It hurts to let them go. We will miss them.
— Chris Best (@cjgbest) 29 June 2022
According to new York Times, some of the fired employees were involved in human resources and author support. The report also noted that Substack recently halted efforts to secure funding from investors, but its revenue is still growing.
In April, Substack faced a minor controversy surrounding its hiring efforts when its vice president of communications Tweeted a recruitment link Keeping in view a specific type of employee, he said that the company was not want. “If you’re a Twitter employee considering resigning because you’re worried about Elon Musk pushing for less regulated speech… please don’t work here,” she said. The company has historically stated that it attaches great importance to free speech.
Substack is far from the only company to lay off a significant percentage of its employees in the past month or two. Like many large crypto firms, companies such as Tesla, Netflix, Klarna, Better.com and Cameo have all cut jobs.