Software giant IBM is cutting 3,900 global positions while chemical company Dow announced it would let go of 2,000 employees, just hours after German enterprise software giant SAP said it plans to cut 3,000 jobs, making them the latest tech giants and manufacturing companies to announce major layoffs as fears of a recession continue into the new year.
January 26Michigan-based chemical company Dow announced it would cut 2,000 positions globally in a cost-reducing plan aimed at saving $1 billion, as CEO Jim Fitterling said the company navigates “macro uncertainties and challenging energy markets, particularly in Europe.”
January 26Software company IBM announced it would slash 1.5% of its global workforce, estimated to affect roughly 3,900 employees, according to CFO James Kavanaugh, multiple outlets reported, as the company expects $10.5 billion in free cash flow in fiscal year 2023.
January 26SAP, said it will lay off 3,000 workers—around 2.5% of its global workforce—in its earnings call announcing its fourth quarter 2022 results on Thursday, but did not specify where those cuts would be made. The German enterprise software firm—whose U.S. headquarters are in Pennsylvania—said the layoffs were part of an effort to cut costs and strengthen focus on its core cloud computing business.
January 25Vacasa, the Portland, Oregon-based vacation rental management company announced it would slash 1,300 positions (17% of its staff) in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing as it moves to reduce costs and “focus on being a profitable company,” three months after it announced it would cut another 6% of its staff.
January 243M, the maker of Post-it Notes and Scotch tape, announced it would cut roughly 2,500 global manufacturing positions in a financial report, as chairman and CEO Mike Roman said the company expects “macroeconomic challenges to persist in 2023.”
January 24Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini is planning to cut 10% of its workforce, according to an internal memo seen by CNBC and The Information, with layoffs estimated to affect 100 of its roughly 1,000 employees—its latest round of cuts after it slashed 7% of its staff last July, and another 10% last May.
January 23Spotify will lay off 6% of its workforce (roughly 600 employees, based on the 9,800 full-time workers it had as of a September 30 filing) and shares of the firm rose more than 5% in early trading as investors continue to largely digest tech layoffs as positive news for bottom lines, while the company’s chief content officer Dawn Ostroff will depart the company as part of the reorganization.
January 20Google parent Alphabet plans to cut around 12,000 jobs worldwide, CEO Sundar Pichai said, citing the need for “tough choices” in order to “fully capture” the huge opportunities lying ahead.
January 20Boston-based furniture e-commerce company Wayfair announced it would cut 10% of its global workforce (1,750 employees), including 1,200 corporate positions, in a move to “eliminate management layers and reorganize to be more agile” amid reduced sales—the company’s latest round of job cuts following it’s decision to cut 870 employees last August.
January 19Capital One slashed 1,100 technology positions, a source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg—Capital One did not confirm the number of positions that would be cut, although a spokesperson told Forbes that affected employees were told they could apply for other roles in the company.
January 19Student loan servicer Nelnet announced it will let go of 350 associates hired over past next six months, while another 210 will be cut for “performance reasons,” telling Insider the cuts come as President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness program continues to stall after facing legal challenges from conservative groups opposed to the measure.
January 18Microsoft’s cuts, which affect 10,000 employees (less than 5% of its workforce), come three months after the Washington-based company conducted another round of layoffs affecting less than 1% of its roughly 180,000 employees, with CEO Satya Nadella saying in a message to employees that some workers will be notified starting Wednesday, and the layoffs will be conducted by the end of the third fiscal quarter in September.
January 18Amazon, one of the biggest companies in the country, had outlined a plan to eliminate more than 18,000 positions (including jobs that were cut in November) starting January 18 in a message to staff earlier this month from CEO Andy Jassy, who said the company is facing an “uncertain economy” after hiring “rapidly” over the past few years.
January 18Teladoc Health will cut 6% of its staff—not including clinicians—as part of a restructuring plan the company announced in a financial report on Wednesday, as the New York-based telemedicine company attempts to reduce its operating costs amid a “challenged economic environment.”
January 13LendingClub announced it would lay off 225 employees (roughly 14% of its workforce) in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, amid a “challenging economic environment,” as the San Francisco-based company attempts to “align its operations to reduced marketplace revenue” following seven rounds of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes last year and as concerns persist of a potential recession.
January 13Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek announced the company, which had more than 2,500 employees as of October, according to PitchBook, will cut 20% of its staff in a message to employees, as the company faces “ongoing economic headwinds and unforeseeable industry events—including the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX late last year, which “significantly damaged trust in the industry.”
January 12DirecTV’s cuts could affect hundreds of employees, primarily managers, who make up nearly half of the company’s 10,000 employees, sources told CNBC, as the company struggles with an increase in the cost to “secure and distribute programming,” and after the company lost nearly 3% of its subscribers (400,000) in the third quarter of 2022, according to the Leichtman Research Group.
January 11BlackRock officials reportedly told employees the New York-based company plans to reduce its headcount by 2.5%—the company did not immediately respond to a Forbes inquiry for further details, but in an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg, CEO Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito said the move comes amid “uncertainty around us” that necessitates staying “ahead of changes in the market.”
January 11In a memo to employees, Flexport CEOs Dave Clark and Ryan Petersen announced plans to slash 20% of the company’s global workforce (estimated to affect 662 of its more than 3,300 employees, according to data from PitchBook), saying the supply chain startup is “not immune” to a worldwide the “macroeconomic downturn.”
January 10Coinbase, one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the U.S. announced plans to lay off 25% of its workforce (950 employees) in a company blog post in order to “weather downturns in the crypto market,” after it laid off another 18% of its staff last June.
January 9Goldman Sachs could lay off as many as 3,200 employees in one of the biggest round of job cuts so far in 2023 as the investment banking giant prepares for a possible recession, multiple outlets reported, citing people familiar with the job cuts.
January 9Artificial intelligence startup Scale AI announced plans to cut one fifth of its staff, CEO Alexandr Wang announced in a blog post, saying the company grew “rapidly” over the past several years, but faces a macro environment that has “changed dramatically in recent quarters.”
January 5Online apparel company Stitch Fix will lay off 20% of its salaried staff and close a Salt Lake City distribution center, founder and interim CEO Katrina Lake announced in an internal memo, after laying off another 15% of its staff last June.
January 5Crypto lender Genesis Trading reportedly laid off 30% of its workforce, according to the Wall Street Journal, which spoke to unnamed sources—the company’s second round of cuts since August, lowering its staff to 145.
January 4San Francisco-based software giant Salesforce will reduce its headcount by 10%, or 7,900 employees, CEO Marc Benioff announced in an internal letter, amid a “challenging” economic climate and as customers take a “more measured approach to their purchasing decisions.”
January 4Online video platform Vimeo announced its second round of cuts in the past six months, which affect 11% of its workforce (roughly 150 of its 1,400 employees, according to data from PitchBook), with CEO Anjali Sud attributing the company’s decision to a “deterioration in economic conditions.”
Nearly $70 billion. That’s how much market capitalization Alphabet, Spotify and Wayfair tacked on the day they announced their respective cuts, as the market largely cheered on the wide-scale headcount reductions.
More than 120 large U.S. companies—including tech startups, major banks, manufacturers and online platforms—conducted major rounds of layoffs last year, cutting nearly 125,000 employees, according to Forbes’ layoff tracker. The biggest came from Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, which laid off roughly 11,000 employees in November. The company with the most rounds of cuts was Peloton, which underwent four separate rounds of layoffs, including one that affected more than 2,800 workers.
Despite the high-profile layoffs, the U.S. unemployment rate is hovering near a multi-decade low at 3.5%, according to the latest government data, as the labor market remains tight.
How the latest sackings impact affected companies’ quarterly financial reports as earnings statements heat up. Microsoft reports earnings Tuesday, while Meta, Spotify, Alphabet and Amazon report next week.
