Polymarket has confirmed that it laid off full-time employees and ended its work with a large number of contractors as part of a broader internal restructuring at the New York-based prediction market operator. The cuts come as the company trails rival Kalshi in trading share and weighs selling shares to the public as early as 2027.

The company acknowledged the job cuts after an internal email describing the layoffs was shared on X last week. More than half of those let go were contractors, a person familiar with the cuts told Reuters. Polymarket did not say how many people were dismissed or what proportion of its workforce was affected, and it also declined to disclose its total number of employees and contractors.

On November 11, the company confirmed that a screenshot circulating online was genuine. That email, described internally as a company-wide reduction in force, ended one contractor agreement effective November 4.

Posts shared widely online claimed the layoffs were far larger. A post from November 4 said Polymarket had cut 30% of its workforce after the midterm elections. Another post on November 7 repeated the claim and said "laptops, email, and building access were cut on the spot." A source, however, said the email was sent only to contractors, not full-time employees.

Leadership changes behind the layoffs

Polymarket framed the job cuts as part of the changes accompanying its growth. "As we've grown and brought on new leadership, we've reorganized to set the company up for its next phase of growth, which has meant a lot of new hires, changes in personnel and letting some people go," a spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The marketing team absorbed the biggest cuts. Matthew Modabber, the company's former chief marketing officer and a longtime friend of CEO Shayne Coplan, was fired in October after an internal investigation. His team was accused of creating a fake website designed to look like Polymarket, which paid influencers allegedly used to record videos showing trades that never actually happened. Coplan initially opposed Modabber's firing, but the board reportedly believed he could jeopardize the company's plans to go public.

Former Uber executive Travis VanderZanden has since taken over marketing as chief growth officer.

Polymarket has also made several senior hires. In September, it named former Amazon CFO Warren Jenson as its first finance chief. It additionally brought in former Goldman Sachs executive Lisa Mantil to attract more large financial firms and former Meta executive Malea Otranto to lead trust and safety.

Polymarket falls behind Kalshi despite rising revenue

Polymarket was once the largest prediction market platform — a sector in which users trade contracts on the outcomes of real-world events such as elections and sports — but Kalshi has since moved ahead. Kalshi handled 73% of all prediction market trading in the third quarter, far above roughly 18% for Polymarket, according to a report from Predicted cited by Front Office Sports. Kalshi has also signed major deals, including one linked to the FIFA World Cup, and in late October raised $1 billion from investors in a round led by Sequoia and Wellington that valued the company at $40 billion.

Polymarket told CNBC on November 10 that its revenue had reached an annual pace of more than $1.8 billion, up from over $1 billion in June. Most of that growth came from its regulated US platform, which reopened in December 2025 after nearly four years out of the American market.

The company is also close to raising another $1 billion in a funding round led by Donald Trump Jr.'s 1789 Capital, sources told Front Office Sports. The deal would value Polymarket at around $21 billion. Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has invested more than $1.6 billion in Polymarket and owns about 14% of the company, a stake worth roughly $2 billion as of September 30, according to an SEC filing.

"It's not like a struggle for cash or something," one source said of the layoffs.

Polymarket still faces legal problems

Polymarket is carrying out these changes as it prepares for a possible stock market listing as early as 2027. Two sources said the company wants to improve how it is run before going public. A public listing would subject the company to the disclosure and governance obligations that apply to publicly traded firms.

US regulatory questions, however, remain unresolved. Reuters reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is investigating whether Polymarket broke a 2022 agreement that required it to stop US users from accessing its main overseas platform. Although based in New York, Polymarket also runs a separate company registered in Panama, and its international platform has faced criticism over some of the events people could bet on. The outcome of the CFTC review, whether the reported $1 billion round from 1789 Capital closes and the timing of any listing remain the main items to watch around the company.

The platform recently removed a betting market that allowed users to predict whether the men accused of raping a Cornell University student would face felony charges. In April, the US Justice Department charged a soldier accused of using private information to place bets on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. In May, prosecutors also charged a Google engineer who allegedly made more than $1.2 million betting on who would be the most searched person of 2025.