After a few years of pandemic boom, tech companies ended 2022 with a bleak outlook. Thousands of jobs have been shed across the industry to correct Covid-time overstaffing and prepare for what experts say is a slower phase of industry growth.
The wave of layoffs has not only hit startups and medium-sized companies, but also large technology companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet.
So far in 2023, 219 tech companies have laid off 68,149 employees, according to tracking site Layoffs.fyi.
SAP and IBM are among companies that have more recently joined the layoff train to contain costs amid a looming global economic downturn.
Here is a list of the major companies that have announced layoffs:
IBM Corp – The software and consulting firm said it would lay off 3,900 employees. The company is also forecasting annual revenue growth in the mid-single-digits at constant exchange rates, weaker than the 12% it reported last year, as pandemic-driven demand for corporate digitalization has given way to cautious consumer spending amid rising recession fears.
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spotify Music streaming service Spotify is shedding 6% of its workforce, or around 600 jobs. CEO Daniel Ek announced the layoffs as part of an organizational restructuring aimed at increasing efficiencies, cutting costs and accelerating decision-making. Spotify laid off 38 employees at its podcast studios Gimlet Media and Parcast in October.Letters – Google’s parent company is cutting 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 an effort to act decisively when 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, negatively impacting earnings per share by 12 cents, Microsoft said.
amazon – The e-commerce giant said company-wide layoffs would affect over 18,000 employees. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy cited “uncertain economy” and “quick hiring” as reasons for the job cuts in an email to employees.
meta The Facebook parent has cut 13% of its workforce, or over 11,000 employees, due to a weak advertising market and rising costs. In 2022, Meta posted its first quarterly sales decline in history, followed by another, larger 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 and paid $1.5 billion in dividends in the fourth quarter. CEO Pat Gelsinger told Portal that “people action” would be part of a cost-cutting plan.
twitter The microblogging platform has aggressively cut its workforce across all teams following its $44 billion acquisition of Elon Musk. The company laid off around 3,700 employees.
lyft The ride-hailing company said it would lay off 13% of its workforce, or about 683 employees, after cutting 60 jobs earlier this year and freezing hiring in September.
Foreclosure – The software company said it would lay off about 10% of its employees and close some offices as part of its restructuring plan, citing a difficult economic situation.
stripes – The digital payments company is cutting its headcount by about 14% and will employ about 7,000 people after the layoffs, according to an email sent to employees by the company’s founders Patrick and John Collison.
DoorDash – The food supplier said it was reducing its workforce by about 1,250 employees to cut costs. As of December 31, 2021, the company employed more than 8,600 people worldwide.
SAP SAP plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or 2.5% of its global workforce. The company is also considering selling its remaining stake in Qualtrics as the German software company looks to cut costs and focus on its cloud business.
vimeo Vimeo will shed 11% of its global workforce. According to its annual regulatory filing, Vimeo employed around 1,200 people as of December 2021. Vimeo employed around 1,200 people, according to its annual regulatory filing as of December 2021. In an email to employees, Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud referred to the “uncertain economic environment” for the layoffs.
Cisco – Cisco Systems Inc.’s restructuring plan affects approximately 5% of employees or 673 workers. The company says it will incur approximately $600 million in pre-tax charges for severance, termination and other costs.
coin base – 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 eliminated more than 60 jobs from its recruiting and institutional onboarding teams in November after shedding 1,100 jobs, or 18% of its workforce, in June.
HP – HP Inc said it expects to cut up to 6,000 jobs, or about 12% of its global workforce, by the end of fiscal 2025, at a time when sales of PCs and laptops are falling as buyers tighten budgets.
Layoffs in India
Dealshare – E-commerce company Dealshare has laid off around 100 employees, or over 6% of its 1,500 employees. Dealshare founder Sourjyendu Medda confirmed the development and said the decision is linked to his business plan for the next fiscal year with a focus on profitability.
GoMechanic – The auto-maintenance startup has announced it will lay off 70% of its employees, even though SoftBank and Khazanah pulled out of a funding deal in the Sequoia-backed startup. One of the founders, Amit Bhasin, admitted financial shortcomings, laid off 70% of his staff and launched an audit of the company.
MohallaTech – MohallaTech, the parent company of popular social media platform ShareChat and short-video app Moj, laid off around 20% of its workforce, or over 500 employees, in a fresh round of layoffs.
Slippery – Swiggy will lay off 380 employees, CEO Sriharsha Majety told employees in an internal statement. Majety said the company’s grocery delivery business is growing at a slower rate than expected. He also said the company had made transfers over the past two years due to “a lack of judgment” on its part.
Dunzo – Reliance Retail-backed Dunzo laid off about 3% of its staff last week, and the quick trade platform for groceries and other essentials is cutting costs elsewhere too.
Ola – Ride-hailing and electric vehicle company Ola has laid off about 130 to 200 employees in a new round of layoffs at the SoftBank-backed mobility company. The layoffs were in the ride-hailing, electric vehicle and fintech sectors. In September, the company reversed the layoffs of around 200 engineers.
Cashless – The online payment service provider Cashfree laid off around 100 employees to reduce costs and cash consumption. The Bengaluru-based fintech startup, backed by YCombinator and Apis Partners, laid off staff in sales and merchant onboarding earlier this week.
Edtech Layoffs
Byjus – India’s most valuable startup Byju’s said it will phase out – or “streamline” – about 5% of its 50,000 employees in departments such as product, content, media and technology. By early 2022, the company had laid off at least 600 employees from group firms like Toppr and WhiteHat Jr.
Vedantu – Vedantu has laid off another 385 employees in its fourth round of layoffs this year as pressure mounts on Indian edtech companies to cut costs and become profitable. The company previously laid off 100 full-time employees from its sales team in July and another 624 full-time and contract employees in two batches in May.
university – Edtech startup Unacademy has cut up to 350 jobs in another round of layoffs to cut costs and rake in profits. The edtech company had previously laid off around 1,000 contract and full-time employees.
First row – FrontRow, which focuses on non-academic learning, has laid off 130 employees (nearly 75% of its workforce) in marketing, sales, engineering and product as online education startups reassess cost structures. FrontRow laid off nearly 145 full-time and contract employees as of May of this year.