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Patreon, the creator-focused monetization platform, said on Thursday it was laying off 20% of its employees as it changed how its internal structure operates.
The cuts will affect 93 Patreon employees, who will be given
at least 16 weeks of severance payments. In a note to staff posted online, CEO Jack Conte said the company’s “core business” remained “strong and consistent,” but the platform had to respond to “profound” market changes this year affecting how Patreon navigates the creator economy.
“We need to adjust our cost structure to ensure that we remain a stable, dependable rock for our creators as we work toward our long term ambition,” he wrote. “The changes we’re making today are painful, but they’re necessary to ensure that Patreon can take the time we need to address the above problems from a position of strength.”
A Patreon spokesperson did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Patreon is home to a wide gamut of podcasts hosted by celebrities and entertainment creators, including those from Quentin Tarantino (who co-hosts “The Video Archives Podcast” with Roger Avary), Bret Easton Ellis, Jonathan Van Ness, Nikki Glaser, Robby Hoffman, Ts Madison, Recho Omondi and the U.K.’s Dan and Phil. The company in April touted the $629 million in revenue its podcasters generated last year, a 33% year-over-year increase.
The internal changes include flattening the company’s organizational chart and redirecting teams toward internal priorities, which Conte listed as “improving core creator and fan experiences” and “helping creators grow their audiences and businesses.”
Conte did not discount the effect AI had on how the company operates, specifically in how Patreon builds products and how it communicates. Still, he said AI functions would not replace those laid off on Thursday.
“We are not making the above changes because we believe AI replaces humans,” he wrote. “The more we have learned to use these new tools, the clearer it has become that they are not substitutes for the creativity, judgment, detail orientation, or craftsmanship that our teammates have in spades, nor do they replace the desire for human connection that all of us cherish so deeply.”
The cuts are the largest to impact the platform since it laid off 80 employees, or about 17% of its staff, in 2022, when it also cut back its creator partnerships team.
