Roku can’t hide from the layoffs spreading throughout the technology industry., Roku is the latest to announce a round of mass layoffs that will impact hundreds of employees at the company. According to a statement from the streaming giant, it is laying off around two hundred employees or about five percent of its workforce.
While the layoffs are hard, they are not surprising. On the company’s Q3 earnings call earlier this month, Roku CEO Anthony Wood said that the company was experiencing a major drop in advertising on its platform. “This is not a normal holiday season.” The macroeconomic headwinds “are creating a tremendous amount of uncertainty,” and the first thing companies do in that situation is “cancel their ad budgets,” he said. Wood said some large advertisers Roku has worked with in the past “are not spending with anyone” at this point.