Polygon Labs lays off 20% staff; Mckinsey to slash 2,000 jobs

Mark Cuban-backed Indian blockchain firm Polygon has sacked 20% of its workforce as it looks to consolidate its business, the company announced in a blog post on Wednesday. The layoffs will impact about 100 employees.

"Earlier this year, we consolidated multiple business units under Polygon Labs. As part of this process, we’re sharing the difficult news that we’ve reduced our team by 20% impacting multiple teams and about 100 positions. This was a painfully hard decision, but a necessary step in our journey," the blockchain network said.

The affected employees will each receive three months of severance pay, regardless of their level or tenure at Polygon Labs.

"The treasury remains healthy, with a balance of more than $250 million and more than 1.9 billion MATIC, and we have crystallized our strategy for the next several years to help drive mass adoption of web3 by scaling Ethereum," the company said. MATIC is a form of token that is used to secure Polygon network and pay the transaction fee.

The development comes a month after the crypto firm announced corporate restructuring in January this year. As part of the restructuring plan, the company consolidated several business units under Polygon Labs, discontinued Polygon Studios which had the gaming, metaverse and NFT arm of the company and the Cayman Islands-based Polygon Foundation will own Polygon Labs.

Founded in 2017, Polygon transforms Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system and provides services for developing other decentralised apps. Last year, the company raised $450 million in funding led by Sequoia Capital India.

Meanwhile, global consulting giant Mckinsey is also reportedly planning to sack 2,000 employees of its 45,000 workforce in a bid to preserve the compensation pool of its partners. As per reports, the layoffs will happen under the company’s Project Magnolia, in a bid to reduce the number of staff that don’t have direct contact with clients.

Owing to the dwindling global macroeconomic situation, several technology firms are opting to lay off employees as part of cost-cutting measures. Last month, Yahoo fired 20% of its workforce, or 1,000 employees in a bid to restructure its ad-tech division. Earlier this month, The Walt Disney Company announced reducing the workforce by 3.6% or 7,000 employees, whereas PC manufacturer Dell Technologies said it’ll sack 6,650 employees or 5% of its global workforce to counter falling sales.

Microsoft too has laid off 10,000 employees, whereas Google is slashing 6% of its total workforce or around 12,000 jobs globally. Amazon had announced layoffs of over 18,000 workers, starting January 18, 2023. Companies like Meta and Twitter have also said they will cut a significant proportion of their workforce to save rising costs amid tough global conditions. Earlier, PC giant HP announced the sacking of 4,000-6,000 employees by the end of fiscal 2025.