The layoff wave has swept not only startups and mid-sized firms, but also big tech companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Google parent Alphabet, among others.
So far, 219 tech companies have laid off 68,149 employees in 2023, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.
SAP and IBM are among the companies that have joined the layoff bandwagon more recently in a bid to rein in the costs amid a looming global economic downturn.
Here is a list of major companies that have announced layoffs:
IBM Corp – The software and consulting firm said it will lay off 3,900 employees. The company also forecast annual revenue growth in the mid-single digits on constant currency terms, weaker than the 12% it reported last year, as pandemic-led demand for digitizing businesses has given way to cautious spending by clients amid rising recession fears.
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Spotify – Music streaming service Spotify is cutting 6% of its workforce, or roughly 600 roles. CEO Daniel Ek announced the layoffs as part of an organisational restructure aimed at increasing efficiency, reducing costs, and speeding up decision-making. Spotify laid off 38 staff from its Gimlet Media and Parcast podcast studios in October.Alphabet – Google parent is eliminating 12,000 jobs or 6% of its global workforce, its chief executive Sundar Pichai told employees in an email. He later defended that the job cuts were made in a bid to act decisively as the company’s growth slowed.
Microsoft – The US tech giant said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023. The layoffs will result in a charge of $1.2 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2023, representing a negative impact of 12 cents on per share profit, Microsoft said.
Amazon – The e-commerce giant said company-wide layoffs would impact over 18,000 employees. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, in an email to staff, cited “uncertain economy” and “rapid hiring” as reasons behind the job cuts.
Meta – Facebook-parent cut 13% of its workforce, or over 11,000 employees amid a weak advertising market and mounting costs. In 2022, Meta posted its first quarterly revenue decline in history, followed by another, bigger decline in the fall.
Intel – The company plans to cut costs by $3 billion in 2023. Intel generated $7.7 billion in cash from operations in the fourth quarter and paid dividends of $1.5 billion. CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters “people actions” would be part of a cost-reduction plan.
Twitter – The micro-blogging platform has aggressively cut its workforce across teams post Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover. The company fired around 3,700 employees.
Lyft – The ride-hailing company said it would lay off 13% of its workforce, or about 683 employees, after it already cut 60 jobs earlier this year and froze hiring in September.
Salesforce – The software company said it would lay off about 10% of its employees and close some offices as a part of its restructuring plan, citing a challenging economy.
Stripe – The digital payments firm is cutting its headcount by about 14% and will have about 7,000 employees after the layoffs, according to an email to employees from company’s founders Patrick and John Collison.
DoorDash – The food delivery firm said it was reducing its corporate headcount by about 1,250 employees to cut costs. As of December 31, 2021, the company had more than 8,600 employees worldwide.
SAP – SAP plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or 2.5% of its global workforce. The firm is also exploring the sale of its remaining stake in Qualtrics, as the Germany software company looks to cut costs and focus on its cloud business.
Vimeo – Vimeo will cut 11% of its global workforce. According to its annual regulatory filing, Vimeo employed around 1,200 workers as of December 2021. Vimeo employed around 1,200 workers as of December 2021, according to its annual regulatory filing. In an email to staff, Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud cited the “uncertain economic environment” for the layoffs.
Cisco – Cisco Systems Inc’s restructuring plan has affected about 5% of employees or 673 workers. The company says it will incur pre-tax charges of about $600 million for severance, termination, and other costs.
Coinbase – Coinbase Global said it will reduce its workforce by about 950 employees as part of a restructuring plan, in a third round of layoffs for the cryptocurrency exchange since last year. Coinbase in November cut more than 60 jobs in its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams, after slashing 1,100 jobs, or 18% of its workforce, in June.
HP – HP Inc said it expects to cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of fiscal 2025, or about 12% of its global workforce, at a time when sales of personal computers and laptops are sliding as shoppers tighten budgets.
Layoffs in India
Dealshare – Ecommerce firm Dealshare has laid off around 100 employees, or over 6% of its 1,500-strong workforce. Confirming the development, Dealshare founder Sourjyendu Medda said the decision is linked to its business plan for the next financial year with focus on profitability.
GoMechanic – The car servicing startup has announced that it will lay off 70% of its employees even as SoftBank and Khazanah pulled out from a funding deal in the Sequoia-backed startup. One of the founders, Amit Bhasin, confessed to financial lapses, laying off 70% of its staff and initiating an audit of the firm.
MohallaTech – MohallaTech, the parent firm of vernacular social media platform ShareChat and short-video app Moj, laid off around 20% of its staff or over 500 employees in a fresh round of layoffs.
Swiggy – Swiggy will sack 380 employees, CEO Sriharsha Majety told employees in an internal not. Majety said the company’s food delivery business has been growing more slowly than expected. He also said that the company overhired over the past two years due to “a case of poor judgement” on his part.
Dunzo – Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo has laid off about 3% of its employees last week and the quick commerce platform for groceries and other essentials is cutting costs elsewhere as well.
Ola – Ride-hailing and electric vehicle company Ola has laid off about 130-200 employees in a fresh round of layoffs at the SoftBank-backed mobility firm. The layoffs have happened across the ride-hailing, electric vehicle and fintech businesses. In September, the company rescinded the retrenchment of about 200 engineers.
Cashfree – Online payments service provider Cashfree laid off around 100 employees as it looked to reduce costs and cash burn. The Bengaluru-based fintech startup, backed by YCombinator and Apis Partners, sacked employees across sales and merchant onboarding earlier this week.
Edtech layoffs
Byju’s – India’s most valuable startup Byju’s said it would cut – or “rationalise” – about 5% of its 50,000-strong workforce across departments such as product, content, media and technology in a phased manner. Earlier in 2022, the company had fired at least 600 people from group firms such as Toppr and WhiteHat Jr.
Vedantu – Vedantu has laid off another 385 employees in its fourth round of layoffs this year, as the pressure to cut costs and turn profitable mounts on Indian edtech firms. The company had previously laid off 100-full time employees from its sales team in July and another 624 full-time and contractual employees in two batches in May.
Unacademy – Edtech startup Unacademy cut as many as 350 jobs amid a push to reduce costs and turn in a profit, in yet another round of layoffs. The edtech company had previously fired around 1,000 contractual and full-time employees.
FrontRow – FrontRow, which is focused on non-academic learning, has sacked 130 employees (almost 75% of its workforce), across marketing, sales, engineering, and product, as startups in the online education sector relook at cost structures. FrontRow had laid off close to 145 full-time and contractual employees in May this year.
