Wattpad is laying off 15% of its staff, blaming the changing economic environment

Difficult economic conditions are affecting businesses of all sizes, resulting in job cuts. Storytelling platform Wattpad announced on Tuesday that it has laid off 42 of its 267 employees, or nearly 15% of the staff. It will provide at least 12 weeks of severance pay and six months of continuing benefits to departing employees. Additionally, they will be allowed to keep devices assigned to the office, such as laptops.

In a blog post, the company blamed the economic environment for the cost-cutting measures and said the layoff impacted all of its divisions.

“As you all know, the global economic reality over the past year has fundamentally changed – and like other businesses, we are not immune. Despite our best efforts over the past few months to limit the impact of the changing economic environment, today we have made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce our workforce,” said the company’s interim president. , KB Nam.

“That doesn’t mean these team members haven’t played an important role in our work. It is important to note that these decisions respond to changing business realities and needs and in no way reflect individual contributions. Everyone at Wattpad has accomplished so much and positively impacted our business.

Last year, the company named Naver Webtoon’s Nam as interim president after Jeanne Lam decided to leave. In 2021, Wattpad became part of South Korean company Naver after $600 million acquisition.

Last June, the company presented a new creative program which could pay writers up to $25,000. He also launched a new measurement metric called “Engaged Readers” for writers.