Snap layoffs: Company may cut up to 1 in 5 jobs; Perplexity integration called off – The Economic Times

Snap Inc., the parent of Snapchat, is preparing to announce significant job cuts on Thursday, according to Alex Heath, author of the Sources newsletter.

Citing people familiar with the matter, Heath reported that layoffs could affect around 15-20% of Snap’s workforce, which currently exceeds 5,000 employees. Some teams could even be reduced by half, he wrote.

However, the exact number of people who will be affected is still not clear.

The newsletter also noted uncertainty over how strongly CEO Evan Spiegel will present these cuts as being driven by artificial intelligence.

Specs unit expands hiring

At the same time, the Specs organisation, recently spun off as a separate subsidiary, is hiring employees, the newsletter said. This includes teams working on the Lens Studio platform, which developers use to build augmented reality (AR) experiences for both Snapchat and Specs.

Snap introduced Specs in January as an independent business focused on AR smart glasses, aiming to compete with Meta Platforms in the growing wearables market. The company has invested more than $3 billion over 11 years into developing its AR glasses, Spiegel said at the Augmented World Expo last year.

This comes as Snap, in February, announced that its direct-revenue business had reached a $1 billion annualised run rate. The growth has been driven largely by its Snapchat+ subscription service, as the company looks to diversify beyond advertising.

Snap added that its total subscriber base has surpassed 25…