Bethany Clarke/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Hours after announcing that it would axe about nine percent of its workforce, Twitter said Thursday that it would be putting its Vine video service on the chopping block as well.
The social network acquired Vine, a video service that allows users to share six-second videos that play on repeat, in October of 2012.
It wasn’t immediately clear why the Vine app would be shut down, and Twitter didn’t immediately respond to questions.
According to financial filings from last year, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was optimistic about Vine.
“We’ve simplified our roadmap and organization around a few big bets across Twitter, Periscope, and Vine that we believe represent our largest opportunities for growth,” he said.
Twitter, which has struggled with growth in recent months, has been been in discussions with several companies about a possible acquisition.
In an announcement posted on social media platform Medium, Twitter said that the app would be discontinued “in the coming months,” but that the service’s website would live on “because we think it’s important to still be able to watch all the incredible Vines that have been made.”
The company said it would be sharing more details about the closure in the future.
Shortly after the announcement, Rus Yusupov, one of the creators of Vine, tweeted a message.
Don’t sell your company!
— Rus (@rus) October 27, 2016
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