Snap Said To Be Shuttering Web3 Team Amid Layoffs, Revamp

Social media giant Snap Inc SNAP is dissolving its Web3 team amid company-wide layoffs, according to a prominent member of that team.

What Happened: Earlier this week, reports emerged that the Snapchat parent planned to cut 20% of its workforce, joining a cohort of tech companies like Tesla Inc TSLA and Shopify Inc SHOP that have announced layoffs in the last six months.

The report suggested that certain departments would be hit harder than others, including its AR/VR and hardware division. Program Manager Jake Sheinman revealed in a tweet that the company’s Web3 department would be one of the first to be officially disbanded.

After ~4 years at @Snap, today is my last day. As a result of the company restructure, decisions were made to sunset our web3 team. The same team that I co-founded last year with other pirates who believed in digital ownership and the role that AR can play to support that.

1/2

— Jake Sheinman (@jakeryanshein) August 31, 2022

“I'm humbled to have partnered with the smartest builders, most creative artists, and kindest humans,” Sheinman said on Twitter.

“Today was tough and I'll miss this place dearly but I'm grateful for all of it. Will be taking some personal time in the coming weeks but open to discuss new opportunities.”

Benzinga reached out to Snap for confirmation of Sheinman's statements but hadn't received a response as of the time of publication.

Snap’s stock is down 80% since the beginning of the year. The firm reported suboptimal revenue of $1.11 billion in the last quarter, with earnings that also fell shy of analysts’ estimates.

“While the continued growth of our community increases the long-term opportunity, for our business, our financial results for Q2 do not reflect our ambition,” said CEO Evan Spiegel at the time.

Price Action: SNAP shares traded 1.03% lower after hours. The crypto market saw a 0.48% increase over the last 24 hours. Bitcoin BTC/USD was trading at $20,048 and Ethereum ETH/USD was trading at $1,575 at press time, as per data from Benzinga Pro.