Napster Corp lays off staff after "overlaps" post-acquisitions

Floridian metaverse company Napster Corp. has laid off an undisclosed number of staff.

A company spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to GamesBeat, explaining that acquisitions over the past 18 months have contributed to overlaps in its workforce.

Among those acquisitions was the original Napster, a music streaming service. Infinite Reality rebranded itself to Napster Corp. following the $207 million deal this spring.

"We parted ways with some of our staff as a result of workforce redundancies and overlaps stemming primarily from the acquisitions we’ve made over the past 18 months," the spokesperson said.

"These are difficult but expected steps in the course of integrating teams and streamlining operations. We continue to employ hundreds of full-time team members around the world, including nearly 100 engineers and hundreds of talented professionals across product development, marketing and operations, and we remain focused on executing against our vision with clarity and momentum."

Rebrand strategy

Infinity Reality’s name change to Napster Corp. also came with a new division at the company, Napster AI, which serves as a home to its artificial intelligence services, including Napster Spaces, designed to give websites an AI upgrade.

Napster Companion, meanwhile, launched in June as a new way for users to verbally converse with AI on a range of topics like cooking, fitness and finance.

The move represented ambitions for "the new Napster" to produce AI-powered digital experiences across media, commerce and entertainment, but the number of new studios now under the brand appears to have played a role in the layoffs.

In the months to come, the portfolio of companies under Napster Corp. will "transition to reflect the Napster identity", including Thunder Studios, iR Studio and the Drone Racing League.

The rebrand has also followed acquisitions of Ethereal Engine, Action Face and others in 2024, plus Touchcast earlier this year - the company's largest acquisition yet, valuing Napster Corp. at $15.5 billion.

A new report from Aream & Co showed that M&A activity drove industry deal value to $6.2bn this Q2.