SAN-FRANCISCO BASED tech company Patreon has announced that it is closing its Dublin office, just three years after opening in the capital.

Patreon, which is a membership platform that helps entertainers sell their work to subscribers online, is also set to close its Berlin office.

This will result in the loss of 80 jobs, about 17% of the company’s staff.

Speaking in 2019 following the announcement of Patreon’s expansion into Dublin, Patreon’s then-Chief People’s Officer described the establishment of the company’s European headquarters in Dublin as “an exciting milestone”.

‘Last resort’

In a note sent to staff yesterday announcing the closure, Jack Conte, the co-founder and CEO of Patreon, acknowledged that he had previously “said that layoffs would be a last resort”.

He then confirmed that Patreon is “taking that step” and said he was “deeply sorry” to the people who will be leaving the company.

In the note, Conte said that the company is “offering our nine Dublin engineering teammates relocation packages to join US-based teams”.

Those due to depart the company were informed in the staff note that they would receive a “calendar invitation to a video call” within the next ten minutes to review the details of the “separation”.

In the case of the Dublin engineering team, they were informed that within the next ten minutes, they would receive a “calendar invitation with “Relocation Offer” in the title to discuss their next steps with a member of the engineering leadership team”. 

Conte said he was “sorry for the difficulty” this causes to staff who are to lose their jobs, but added that the “second Renaissance has already begun” for those who will remain.

Patreon also dismissed five members of its security organisation last week, but Conte said this “stemmed from a different set of reasons from the ones guiding today’s decision”.

‘Volatility’

In the note, Conte blamed the decision on the “volatility” that the pandemic caused, “starting with a rapid acceleration during COVID lockdowns”.

He said that Patreon had “built an operating plan, but as the world began recovering from the pandemic, that plan is no longer the right path forward”.

Conte said he takes “full responsibility for choosing that original path forward, and for the changes today, which will be very difficult for our team”.

In response to this “changing environment”, Conte expressed the need for Patreon to “change the way we operate”.

He noted that this includes reducing the company’s “recruiting and other internal support functions” and taking a “more scaled approach with a smaller, consolidated team in the US”.