What is it with companies doing mass-layoffs and stating no reasons whatsoever, in fact giving reasons why there's no need:

> Second, Patreon’s core business is healthy and strong, and we’re going to be a rock for creators for decades to come. Hundreds of thousands of creators rely on Patreon for their livelihoods, businesses, ...

> We’re reducing the size of our team by 20%, or ...

> At the same time, the market in which we operate has undergone profound change over the last 6 months.

I guess this is the "reason" but obviously they aren't elaborating. It's odd they picked "6 months" - what changed in "the market"?

You usually do lay offs because finances aren't doing so good, so you do it to stop the bleeding. Especially if you're a publicly traded company this tells investors you're doing SOMETHING, but for private companies, it's really up to you when and how you do it. I imagine companies with a reasonable war chest that are private try to hold on as long as possible.

I think that they must teach in business school or something that you never, ever, EVER acknowledge or admit that things have ever or will ever go bad in your business.

I’ve worked for startups that will show massive customer churn, tell us that this is “actually a good thing”, do massive layoffs the next week because of the churn, and even while talking about the layoffs say that they’re stronger than ever.

I’ve been doing this long enough that I am mostly used to the gaslighting, and have just accepted that business people have neither the ability nor desire to ever be honest about anything.

I assume it is legal reasons.

> stating no reasons whatsoever

It does under reason for reduction, quoting: At the same time, the market in which we operate has undergone profound change over the last 6 months.

> giving reasons why there's no need... Patreon’s core business is healthy and strong

Actually that's the reason. It says Patreon's core business is strong i.e. everything else isn't? You don't state the obvious unless there's a gotcha.

> core business is healthy and strong

Thst is valid reason to layoff people. If there is no mess to clean, you do not need that many cleaners.

Depends on jurisdiction, in many European countries a company with more than 300 employees can't do these kind of layoffs without giving a concrete reason, and if they do they need to close down a whole office location (e.g. we're closing our LA office, only SF office remains).

Read between the lines. "This thing ain't getting bigger so everyone we needed to get it here but don't need to keep it going has to go." Like a game studio laying half the team off once the product ships.