Layoffs Hit FaZe Clan, Longtime YouTube CEO Leaves Company
People on the Move for Feb. 18, 2023.
There are ten days left in February, and while layoffs in the esports and gaming industry have slowed down over the last week, there was a serious reduction of staff at FaZe Holdings (noted below). 2023 has not been kind to employees in these sectors, and I fear things are only going to get worse as companies find ways to enact austerity measures...
Anyway, onto this week’s news. - James Fudge.
FaZe Holdings Cuts 20% of Staff
Publicly-traded esports organization announced via an SEC 8-K filing that it has cut 20% of its staff as part of a restructuring plan that began in December. FaZe has been struggling to show revenue since it went public last year, but in a memo to staff CEO Lee Trink says that it will show revenue growth for 2022 when it reports financials in March. Still, this is likely little solace to those people who find themselves out of work in a terrible economy. Investors weren’t thrilled with the news either: FaZe stock hit an all-time new low of $0.66 a share on the Nasdaq Friday before rebounding slightly to $0.72 by the close of the trading day. Read the full story on The Esports Advocate.
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki Announces Exit
Longtime YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced this week that she is stepping down from her role at the Alphabet-owned video and streaming platform. Wojcicki was one of the very first Google employees and began her nearly 25 year career in her garage. It is clear that YouTube wouldn't be in the position it is today if it wasn't for Wojcicki's leadership over the last two decades.
She will be replaced by Neal Mohan, who joined the company as a senior advertising and product executive in 2008. Mohan was appointed chief product officer at YouTube in 2015, and has most recently been in charge of building multiple YouTube products including Shorts, Music, and subscription services.
People on the Move
Here is this week’s list of promotions, hires, and departures in the gaming/esports industry:
Esports:
Trent Murray will be leaving his role as esports and strategy lead at Vortex Games (makers of Rushdown Revolt) at the end of February.
CJ Simmons joins AMB Sports and Entertainment as senior manager of fan analytics. Simmons worked at Atlanta FaZe as the director of marketing solutions.
Mike Polner has been promoted to head of marketing at Discord.
Matt Kersting has left his role as senior strategic partner manager at Twitch.
Leo Altus is no longer with The Chiefs Esports Club as a graphic designer.
François DESIR leaves Team Vitality to join SPORTFIVE as its new senior manager rightsholder MENA.
Mikkel Rasmussen joins BLAST as product manager and producer.
Francisco Rodriguezla joins Riot Games as a global influencer strategist for Valorant and Project L.
David Dashtoyan joins Tundra Esports as head of business development.
Jakub Szmyt joins the Gravity team at Riot Games Stryker in Dublin as a technical director & EVS support.
Kariann Tan joins Night Media as an operations coordinator - she also currently works at Social Currant and at esports organization Detonate as GM.
Sean Meiliunas is promoted as VP of content at Sentinels.
Gabrielle Renfro joins Sentinels as merchandise lead.
Justin Rothschild leaves StreamElements to join Complexity Gaming as a brand strategist.
Eric Ward left Salesforce to join Pacers Gaming as team operations coordinator in January.
Rodolfo Delgado has joined Entain to tackle marketing & esports related to Unikrn.
Belinda Ung is no longer the partnerships coordinator at FaZe Clan.
Gaming:
Marcus Budline leaves Amazon's Prime Gaming to join FanDuel as a product manager.
Matty Studivan is promoted to COO / executive producer at Squanch Games.
Jacob Solomon leaves game developer Firaxis after 23 years.
Abby Sherlock is promoted to associate producer at Riot Games.
Edwin Garcia joins the Razer Store team as a community specialist.
Liz Chepul leaves Banner Saga maker Stoic.
Other:
Rachel Birtwistle joins Esports Insider as a social media & marketing assistant.
Jasmine James joins Houston Dynamo FC as chief of staff.
Damian Skoczylas joins Viral Nation as VP of talent.
Patrick Currah joins Viral Nation as director of the newly created Talent Ventures division.
Julian Moore leaves his role as director of legal affairs at Infront Sports & Media.
Peter De Vries leaves Mahindra Racing to join E1 Series as global partnerships director.
In Other News
👍🏼 Tencent tells Chinese regulators the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal is cool.
🥳 ESL FACEIT Group's Intel Extreme Masters returns to Rio in 2023.
✈ Microsoft takes a trip to Brussels to face the European Commission.
💰 VSPO gets cash money from Savvy Games Group.
😎 Oakley returns as an Esports Awards sponsor.
🐝 Team Vitality launches all-women League of Legends team.