![]() ![]() STAT | $13 million – Unity's non-GAAP income for the three months ended December 31, 2022. And sure enough, in February, Unity reported its first profitable quarter ever. It's because you're hiring to support heavy, heavy growth." – Riccitiello explains that the way to support growth is to hire more people.Īt the time, Riccitiello told us Unity would post profits in 2023. QUOTE | "Very few companies are profitable when they report 40% growth, as we did throughout 20. What's really odd about this "shrink to grow" mentality is that it's such a turnaround from the growth strategy Riccitiello laid out for us last year when we asked why the company had never posted a profitable quarter. This "shrink to grow" mentality is a turnaround from the growth strategy Riccitiello laid out last yearĪnd while I readily concede any organization of Unity's size (around 7,000 people after the cuts) probably has some employees that are a net negative to the company's value, I also think if you're a CEO that's been running that company in such a way that it is carrying around 600 such people, that raises some questions about your own fitness for the position. Removing that person from the equation doesn't remove the need they filled. Even if some of those positions contribute primarily by managing the logistics of communication between various tiers of the operation, that's still a function that arose at one point out of a need for such a person. The thing is, middle managers are just people in the company who have bosses and direct reports. I want us to be sharp and smart and focused on things that help our customers the best." – Riccitiello, speaking with us last year after the first round of job cuts. That's a bit like the federal government and it ends up with bloatocracy, and I don't want to be a giant behemoth. QUOTE | "I wouldn't hold any company to the standard that everything that must work and no job must end. That's no doubt the spin Riccitiello would like to see on this news. ![]() Why, if we could just get rid of them entirely, the bosses and the employes who actually get things done could talk directly and Unity would instantly be a more nimble organization ready to realize everyone's untapped potential! ![]() The cuts are said to flatten the corporate hierarchy and eliminate some "middle managers," a phrase that conjures up do-nothing speedbumps, corporate parasites that exist to waste time by forcing subordinates to fill in useless reports and forcing superiors to read digests of those reports. It's not going to increase the assortment of development and monetization tools they offer, or make them any more effective. So how exactly is laying people off going to grow Unity? It's not going to encourage more creators to use the engine or make their products more successful. Note to editor: I see you didn't weigh in on that third thing… (Editor's note: Brendan is neither from the country nor a lawyer.) Now I may be just a simple country lawyer, but laying people off for growth strikes me a lot like the old saying, "Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity." QUOTE | "It's all about setting ourselves up for higher growth." – Unity CEO John Riccitiello, speaking to The Wall Street Journal about the cuts. So why is the company downsizing like this? The company is also looking to shutter half its global offices in the next few years, reducing its current network of 58 locations to fewer than 30. It was the largest of the three rounds of cuts, hitting 600 employees, or about 8% of the company's headcount. Earlier this week, Unity announced its third round of layoffs in less than a year.
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