In just the first quarter of the year, around 135,000 tech employees have experienced layoffs, with tech giants like Google and Amazon making massive cuts to its staff.

On April 27, Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth sent a note explaining how the company is downsizing as a result of undergoing restructuring and rebranding, according to Variety.

“We arrived at this conclusion reluctantly, as we have years of runway remaining and do not feel immediate pressure to reduce costs. But we believe that a smaller team will give us focus and speed, and help us launch the next evolution of the product,” part of the memo read.

The invite-only app debuted in April 2020 and soared in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to everyone staying indoors for their safety, people yearned for community and wanted to socialize with each other. Clubhouse provided a safe platform to discuss various topics in chatrooms and became the go-to platform to engage with people sharing similar interests and beliefs.

With the world continuing to return to normal, the interest in the app decreased significantly, and many people simply aren’t using it anymore. In December 2021, the app ranked No. 60 on the list of most popular social media apps, reported FourWeekMBA.

The founders didn’t share any insight on what the new version of the app will entail, but they ensured that the employees being laid off will receive a severance pay for the remainder of April, plus their monthly salary amount up until August 31. They also  thanked all of their staff for helping build the startup company.

“We will always be grateful for the role that each of you has played in building Clubhouse and we would rehire any of you in a second if we could,” Davison and Seth wrote in their memo. “Our hope is to rebuild and one day earn the right to do that.”