New Year Layoff Wave? Near Foundation to Lay Off 40%: Integrating Core Team, Financial Situation Still Strong

As a non-profit organization behind Near Protocol, the Near Foundation announced yesterday in a statement that they will be laying off 40% of their staff, primarily from the marketing, business development, and community teams, citing team inefficiencies and slow execution progress as current issues. Meanwhile, companies including Google, Unity, and Twitch have also confirmed layoffs recently.

Near Team to Focus on Integrating Core Members

Despite significant growth in token prices and the ecosystem in 2023, the Near Foundation has announced a 40% reduction in team size, affecting 35 employees, primarily from the marketing, business development, and community departments.

Near Protocol co-founder and Foundation CEO Illia Polosukhin revealed the reasons for this large-scale downsizing in a statement, stating that they will assist departing employees in finding opportunities in Web3 or other industries:

After external community feedback and internal review, we have decided to significantly integrate the core team to focus on activities with a narrower and more impactful scope.

He also added, "The engineering team Pagoda of the Near Protocol will continue to operate unaffected."

CEO Assures Foundation's Financial Health

Furthermore, Polosukhin mentioned the financial status of the Near Foundation, emphasizing the Foundation's ability to continue supporting the growth, development, and decentralization of the Near Protocol and its ecosystem:

The Foundation treasury currently holds over $285 million in fiat currency, over 305 million $NEAR tokens valued at over $1 billion, and approximately $70 million in investments and loans.

He also stated that the protocol will continue to focus on blockchain abstraction, user-owned AI, and mainstream adoption of open networks.

Other protocols and teams that have recently announced layoffs include Chainalysis, Polkadot, OpenSea, and Ava Labs.

However, despite this, The Block's predictions remain optimistic about the Near Protocol, even claiming it may become the future "Solana killer."

The Block Prediction: Sei, NEAR to Become "Solana Killer," Avatar-style NFTs Won't Resurrect

Discord, Google, Twitch Announce Layoffs

Discord, which also recently announced layoffs in the past two days, disclosed through The Verge an internal memo indicating a 17% reduction in workforce, equivalent to 170 employees, to focus attention, change collaboration methods, and enhance organizational agility.

As a popular real-time communication service beloved by gamers, Discord CEO Jason Citron attributed the layoffs to over-hiring over the past 3 years:

We grew quickly, and the headcount expanded too rapidly. Since the hiring boom of 2020, the staff count has increased fivefold.

He added, "We created more plans but became less efficient, so layoffs are necessary to improve Discord's operations and execution efficiency."

Other companies announcing layoffs in the new year include search engine Google, game engine Unity, and livestreaming platform Twitch, with undisclosed numbers, 1,800 employees representing 25%, and 500 employees representing 35% being let go, respectively.