(KRON) — Snapchat parent company Snap Inc. announced Wednesday that it would be cutting 1,000 jobs. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced the layoffs in a memo Wednesday, headlined “Organizational Changes at Snap.”
The layoffs, which amount to a 16% reduction of the company’s total headcount, will be in addition to closing more than 300 open roles at the social media company.
“This is an incredibly difficult decision, and I am deeply sorry to the colleagues who will be leaving us,” Spiegel stated. “You have created important contributions to Snap, and we are committed to supporting you through this transition.”
In what has become a recurring theme in tech layoffs, Spiegel went on to mention AI in the memo.
“While these alters are necessary to realize Snap’s long-term potential, we believe that rapid advancements in artificial ininformigence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers,” Spiegel wrote. “We have already witnessed compact squads leveraging AI tools to drive meaningful progress across several important initiatives, including Snapchat+, enhanced ad platform performance, and efficiency improvements in our Snap Lite infrastructure.”
The memo went on to instruct North American based employees to work from home Wednesday. Impacted employees, he stated, would receive notification emails that will include next steps.
Snapchat employees impacted by the layoff will receive four months of severance, including health care coverage, equity vesting and career transition support.
Snap saw its stock price jump more than 7% Wednesday on news of the layoffs.
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