A slew of tech companies have announced cost-cutting measures in 2022, with Amazon, Apple and Google parent company Alphabet all announcing delays or freezes on hiring.
For the tech sector, the pandemic boom turned into a post-pandemic crisis, as rising interest rates weighed on stock prices and inflation pushed earnings down.
The industry cut 9,587 jobs in October, the highest monthly total since November 2020, according to data from consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas quoted by Bloomberg.
Total job cuts announced by U.S.-based employers rose 13 percent in October to 33,843, the highest since February 2021, a report said.
meta
In March, the company announced it would cut about 10,000 more jobs in the coming months and stop recruiting for the 5,000 positions it was trying to fill.
Facebook’s parent company said in November it would cut 13 percent of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, in one of the largest tech layoffs this year as it grapples with a weak advertising market and rising costs.
Meta cut 13 percent of its workforce in November 2022, or more than 11,000 employees
Like its peers, Meta hired aggressively during the pandemic to cope with an increase in social media use by stay-at-home consumers.
But the boom of the pandemic ebbed as advertisers and consumers pulled the plug on their spending despite rising costs and rapidly rising interest rates.
After pouring billions into CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse vision with little return, Meta was faced with rising costs and falling profits.
Meta, once worth more than $1 trillion, lost about 70 percent of its value last year alone. Stocks rallied in 2023, but remained below their high in early March.
“Not only has online commerce returned to previous trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition and the loss of advertising have caused our revenues to be much lower than I anticipated,” Zuckerberg said in a message to employees. .
“I’m wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”
Zuckerberg broke the grim news of job cuts during a phone call with hundreds of Meta executives
During a brief phone call, a red-eyed Zuckerberg addressed employees but did not answer questions.
He stuck to a script closely following the wording in that morning’s blog post, calling the increased investment in e-commerce a “major planning mistake.”
Twitter laid off half its workforce in teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering after Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition.
The cuts affected some 3,700 employees, who learned about their fate via email last week.
Twitter laid off half of its workforce in teams ranging from communications and content curation to product and engineering
Musk previously said there was no choice but to impose mass layoffs as the company loses hundreds of millions of dollars every year and needs a financial review
Sales team
In January, cloud-based software company Salesforce announced it will lay off 10 percent of its employees, or about 8,000 workers.
CEO Marc Benioff cited a difficult period for the technology sector and over-hiring during COVID-19 that led to the decision.
“Our sales performance process encourages accountability. Unfortunately, that may lead some to leave the company and we support them through their transition,” said a Salesforce spokesperson.
Salesforce had 73,541 employees at the beginning of last year – it is the largest employer in the San Francisco area.
The company said in an August filing that it had increased its workforce by 36 percent over the past year “to meet increased demand for services from our customers.”
Amazon
Amazon said it would cut 18,000 corporate and technology jobs, which will be the largest job loss in the company’s history.
The move comes as the company reportedly lost $1 trillion over the year after its stock plummeted from a high during the pandemic.
If the company goes ahead with its proposal to cut 10,000 jobs, it would lose about 3 percent of Amazon’s workforce
The move comes after the company introduced a staff freeze, impacting major teams including Prime Video, Alexa and Amazon Fresh.
“We are facing an unusual macroeconomic environment and want to balance our hiring and investments with thinking about this economy,” Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology at Amazon, wrote in a memo..
Intel
Intel Corp’s CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters that “people actions” would be part of a cost-cutting plan.
The chipmaker recently said it would cut costs by $3 billion by 2023, then increase that to $10 billion by 2025.
The adjustments would go into effect in the fourth quarter, Gelsinger said, but did not specify how many employees would be affected.
Some Intel divisions, including the sales and marketing group, could be cut by up to 20 percent, Bloomberg News reported last month, citing people with knowledge of the situation.
Chipmaker Intel is reportedly planning major layoffs, likely in the thousands, in the face of a slowdown in the PC market
The company had 113,700 employees in July when it cut its annual sales forecast by $11 billion after missing estimates for second-quarter results.
Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, declined to comment on the job cuts when reached by DailyMail.com in October.
Intel has been battered by shifting market trends, including the decline of traditional PCs as smartphones and tablets become more popular.
Last quarter, global PC shipments, including desktops and laptops, fell another 15 percent from a year ago, according to IDC.
Microsoft
Microsoft began laying off 10,000 employees in January, citing declining customer demand and a negative economic climate.
“We also see organizations in every industry and region taking caution as some parts of the world are in recession and others are anticipating it,” CEO Satya Nadella said in a memo from the company.
The layoffs affected nearly 5 percent of Microsoft’s global workforce.
According to Axios, Microsoft previously laid off fewer than 1,000 employees across several divisions last year.
In a statement, Microsoft executives said, “Like all businesses, we regularly review our business priorities and make structural adjustments accordingly.
According to Axios, Microsoft laid off fewer than 1,000 employees across several divisions last month
“We will continue to invest in our business in the coming year and hire people in key growth areas.”
Microsoft executives announced earlier in July that it was laying off less than 1 percent of its workforce and slowing hiring significantly as revenue fell short of investor expectations.
The company only posted $51.9 billion in revenue in the second quarter of the year, but was projected to bring in $52.4 billion.
It had previously shown a blockbuster performance during the COVID pandemic, as consumers and businesses turned to its products as they transitioned to a work-from-home model.
Lyft
Ride-hailing company Lyft said it would lay off 13 percent of its workforce, or about 683 employees, after cutting 60 jobs and halting hiring in September.
Lyft said in a regulatory filing that it would likely incur $27 million to $32 million in restructuring costs related to the layoffs.
“We are not immune to the realities of inflation and a slowing economy,” Lyft’s founders wrote in the memo to staff.
Ride-hailing company Lyft said it would lay off 13 percent of its workforce, or about 683 employees, after already cutting 60 jobs earlier this year
The company’s share price is down 76 percent since the start of the year and stood at $9.75 on March 6, compared to nearly $45 in January 2022.
Lyft has about 4,000 employees, not counting drivers.
Spotify
The music streaming service said on Jan. 22 that it plans to cut 6% of its workforce, an estimated 588 employees out of 9,800 full-time employees.
Spotify said it will have to pay about $38 million in severance payments.
The company, whose CEO is Daniel Ek, said chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff will also leave.
Spotify said on Jan. 22 that it plans to cut 6% of its workforce, an estimated 588 employees
Apple
While Apple hasn’t announced any major layoffs yet, CEO Tim Cook said CBS mornings that it also slows down some hirings.
“What we’re doing as a result of being in this period is we’re very mindful in hiring people,” he said. “That means we keep hiring, but we’re not hiring everywhere in the company.”
At the same time, however, Cook said, “we don’t believe you can save your way to prosperity.”
“We think you’re investing your way into it,” he said.