Layoffs hit Amazon’s entertainment businesses | Textio CEO steps down

Layoffs are hitting Amazon’s entertainment businesses. Twitch is cutting more than 500 positions, around 35% of its workforce, while Prime Video and MGM Studios are laying off several hundred workers. “As with many other companies in the tech space, we are now sizing our organization based upon the current scale of our business and conservative predictions of how we expect to grow in the future,” Twitch CEO Dan Clancy wrote in a memo to employees. Read more. 

• Related: Gaming giant Unity Technologies is also laying off staff, and 50 workers in Washington state were impacted. The company has an office in Bellevue, Wash. Read more.  

• See all recent layoffs impacting the Pacific Northwest tech ecosystem with our layoff tracker. 

Leadership change at Textio: CEO Kieran Snyder is handing the reins to Jensen Harris, her husband, co-founder and former chief experience officer of the Seattle augmented writing platform as she says she needs “time to recharge.” Read more.

Can a 42-member AI task force get anything done? That was a focus of a committee hearing Wednesday morning discussing a proposed Artificial Intelligence Task Force in Washington state. Read more.

• Related: AI task force to assess and report on risks

Adtech startup raises $9M: Symbiosis, led by a former Google and Microsoft advertising exec, wants to rethink how retailers and product brands work together. Seattle-area firm Fuse led the Series A round. Read more. 

• Check out the latest startup investments at our funding list. 

Bill’s back: Famed venture capitalist and early Zillow Group investor Bill Gurley is returning to the company’s board as it navigates a slow real estate market. “There are few smarter tech product and marketplace strategists,” said Zillow CEO Rich Barton. Read more. 

• Related: A Bank of America analyst downgraded Zillow’s stock, citing real estate industry trends and ongoing agent commission lawsuits. 

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