FaZe Clan has reportedly laid off 20% of its overall workforce as the gaming and online entertainment brand continues to see its stock price plummet in 2023.
The new year has not been all too kind to the esports industry. Juggernauts like 100 Thieves, Team Liquid, and OpTic Gaming are just a few of the most prominent brands letting dozens of employees go in the first few weeks of 2023.
Now, it appears FaZe Clan can be added to the list with perhaps the biggest reduction yet as the company has reportedly dropped “roughly 20% of its employees,” according to Business Insider.
Staff members have allegedly been let go at a gradual pace since December, 2022, with the full round of layoffs only just concluded in February, 2023. Workers were seemingly notified at an all-hands meeting earlier this week.
This significant drop appears to come as a result of FaZe Clan’s ongoing struggles as a publicly traded company. Since launching onto the stock market in July last year, the brand has seen a 93.10% reduction in value to date. With its stock price falling below $1, it now even risks being delisted.
“We have to be aware we’re operating in a very different economic environment today than we were even at the time we went public,” FaZe Clan CEO Lee Trink reportedly said in a company-wide statement obtained by Business Insider.
Originally, when launching as a public company, the goal was to raise “significantly more capital,” he explained. That funding was intended to focus on new opportunities, so FaZe allegedly hired around those possibilities before deals were signed and agreements were made. However, given the sheer decline in stock market value, the team has now “re-examed the breadth of [its] growth strategy in light of [the] current balance sheet.
“This re-focus, plus more uncertainty in the overall economy has led us to reducing our employee base.”
Currently, an exact number of staff members laid off is unclear. However, both LinkedIn and RocketReach track more than 600 employees at the company, meaning up to 120 employees could have been impacted in the “roughly 20%” cuts reported by Business Insider.
Despite this staggering reduction amid the stock market plummet, Trink is still confident moving forward that revenue will continue “growing” for FaZe Clan.
“[We] expect to report revenue growth for 2022 will show an increase of over 25% from 2021.”
“While changes like this are always difficult, I’m confident that this new structure, accompanied by much greater focus on financial discipline and the holistic strategy we described at the all-hands meeting will put the company in the best position for us to capitalize on the many opportunities ahead.”
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