Possible English translation: “Impending New Year Layoffs? Near Foundation to Downsize by 40%: Streamlining Core Team, Financial Situation Remains Strong”
Near Foundation, the non-profit organization behind Near Protocol, announced yesterday (11) that it will be laying off 40% of its workforce, mainly in the marketing, business development, and community teams. The organization acknowledged that the team’s efficiency and execution progress have been slower than expected, which is the current issue. Meanwhile, companies including Google, Unity, and Twitch have also confirmed their layoffs recently.
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Near team will focus on integrating core members
Foundation CEO guarantees good financial condition
Discord, Google, Twitch announce layoffs
Despite significant growth in token prices and the ecosystem in 2023, Near Foundation announced a 40% reduction in team size, which is expected to affect 35 employees, mainly from the marketing, business development, and community departments.
Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol and CEO of the foundation, revealed the reasons for this large-scale downsizing in a statement and stated that they will assist departing employees in finding opportunities in Web3 or other industries:
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“After external community feedback and internal review, we have decided to significantly consolidate the core team to focus on narrower and more impactful activities.”
He also added, “The engineering team Pagoda at Near Protocol will continue to operate unaffected.”
Additionally, Polosukhin mentioned the financial condition of Near Foundation, emphasizing that the foundation has the capability to continue supporting the growth, development, and decentralization of Near Protocol and its ecosystem:
“The foundation’s treasury currently holds over $285 million in fiat currency, 305 million $NEAR tokens (worth over $1 billion), and approximately $70 million in investments and loans.”
Finally, he mentioned that the protocol will continue to focus on chain 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, prior predictions by The Block still express optimism towards Near Protocol, even claiming that it could become the future “Solana killer.”
(Sei predicts that NEAR will become the “Solana killer,” and avatar-style NFTs won’t make a comeback.)
Discord, which also announced layoffs in the past two days, revealed in an internal memo obtained by The Verge that the company will reduce its workforce by 17%, equivalent to 170 employees, in order to focus attention, change collaboration methods, and enhance organizational agility.
As a popular instant messaging service beloved by gamers, Discord CEO Jason Citron attributed the layoffs to overhiring in the past three years:
“We were growing rapidly, and the team expanded too quickly. Since the hiring surge in 2020, the number of employees has increased fivefold.”
He added, “We created more projects but became less efficient, so layoffs are necessary to improve Discord’s operations and execution efficiency.”
Other companies that have announced layoffs for the new year include search engine Google, game engine Unity, and live streaming platform Twitch, which have laid off several hundred (specific numbers undisclosed), 1,800 (25%), and 500 (35%) employees, respectively.
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