In response to questions about layoffs, Zynga emailed Betabeat an internal memo that CEO Marc Pincus sent out to staffers this afternoon. In the note, Mr. Pincus confirmed that the company cut approximately five percent of its full-time workforce today, including the shuttering of its Boston studio and mass layoffs at its Austin location.
Mr. Pincus also said that Zynga is proposing closures of its Japan and U.K. offices. In addition, the company will be sunsetting 13 of its games and reducing investment in TheVille, a Facebook game that’s facing a lawsuit from EA for looking a whole lot like a Sims game.
In the memo, Mr. Pincus wrote that he believes the cost-cutting measures will “improve our profitability and allow us to reinvest in great games and our Zynga network on web and mobile.”
The memo comes after a day of intense rumors about the flailing social gaming company filled the tech universe. Despite the fact that the news emerged during the attention-sapping Apple (AAPL) keynote, TechCrunch reported that the timing of the news had more to do with Zynga’s impending earnings call, scheduled for tomorrow, than with the Apple presentation.
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