Unity Software is laying off more people

Unity Software, a San Francisco-based company that operates a platform for developing videogames and other software applications, is conducting its third and largest round of layoffs in the past year, according to this news on The Wall Street Journal.

The job cuts will result in approximately 600 positions being eliminated, which represents around 8% of Unity’s workforce. The company will be left with approximately 7,000 employees after the layoffs. Unity is also planning to reduce its global network of offices over the next few years to fewer than 30 from 58 today.

The job cuts come as recession fears mount and other tech companies, such as Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Google parent Alphabet, and Microsoft, have also recently conducted layoffs. In some cases, these cuts followed layoffs made last year, when companies began feeling the effects of inflation and rising interest rates. Some also said they had added too many workers in recent years.

Unity’s layoffs in January also reflected a need to deal with a duplication of roles resulting from its $4.4 billion acquisition last year of ironSource, an Israeli ad-tech company. Despite posting its first quarterly operating profit since going public in 2020 for the period ending in December on an adjusted basis and reporting record revenue of $1.39 billion for all of 2022, Unity’s revenue growth slowed significantly last year. Its most recent earnings report included a revenue forecast that came in below Wall Street analysts’ expectations. The company is slated to release its latest quarterly earnings next week.

Shares of Unity have fallen 11% since the start of the year, while shares of the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index are up 15% over the same period.

This is the third and largest round of layoffs in the past year, as the company responds to negative economic trends and deals with a duplication of roles resulting from its acquisition of ironSource. Unity’s latest quarterly earnings report included a revenue forecast that came in below Wall Street analysts’ expectations, and its revenue growth has significantly slowed in the past year.