Clubhouse Lays Off Over 50% of Staff in Major Company ‘Reset’

In an email sent out to employees earlier today, Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth announced the company is laying off over 50% of its staff.

“We’re scaling back our org by over 50% and saying goodbye to many talented, dedicated teammates in the process,” the note to Clubhouse employees said.

Impacted staff were then sent a calendar invite to a 1:1 meeting with a manager in their respective departments. “We’re deeply sorry to be doing this.”

The founders explained that as the world opened up post-Covid, it became harder for many people to find their friends on Clubhouse and to fit long conversations into their daily lives.

“To find its role in the world, the product needs to evolve. This requires a period of change,” the email continues.

“In order to fix this we need to reset the company, eliminate roles and take it down to a smaller, product-focused team,” the founders added.

The company has also announced the following resources it will be providing to all those impacted:

• Severance pay. We will pay salaries for the rest of April, plus 4 months of additional severance for all departing employees. This means everyone affected will receive their full salary until Aug 31, 2023.
• Equity acceleration. We will accelerate everyone who is impacted to their Aug 2023 vesting date, and for those who haven’t reached their one-year vesting cliff, we’ll also waive the cliff and provide pro-rata monthly vesting through their Aug 2023 date.
• Healthcare. We will pay for COBRA through Aug 31, 2023 for everyone affected, so they can continue to receive full healthcare coverage for themselves and their families during this period.
• Laptops. We will allow everyone who is impacted to keep their company-issued laptops, to help them research and apply for new roles.
• Career support. We will help departing employees in finding their next role.
• Immigration support. We will be providing support for those who are on visas.

Clubhouse employees who are not impacted were then sent a calendar invite for a brief team meeting at 3pm PT.