The
Companies Conducting Layoffs in 2023
Alphabet,
Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, 3M and Salesforce are cutting positions amid
recession fears
The recent wave of corporate
layoffs is starting to spread
beyond the tech sector, as companies recalibrate their head counts
and tighten their belts amid concerns about a slowing economy.
The
job cuts at the start of the year, which had mostly been concentrated
in the tech
industry, included Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.,
Twitter Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. and International Business
Machines Corp.
The slowdown
in the tech industry has also started to reverberate on Wall Street
where revenue for tech-related deals has fallen off.
Beyond tech, companies like Dow Inc. and 3M Co. have announced they are
cutting jobs, showing that the latest downsizing is starting to shift to other parts
of the economy.
The broader labor market has continued
to add jobs, but growth has slowed. U.S.
economic growth cooled to a 2.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter,
capping a year of high inflation and rising interest rates.
Here’s a look at some of the
companies that have announced layoffs.
Technology
and Media
Alphabet
The Google parent said it plans
to eliminate
roughly 12,000 jobs, reducing its staff by 6% and marking the company’s
largest-ever round of layoffs as it copes with a darkened economic outlook.
The reductions will cut across
Alphabet units and geographies, the company said, though some areas, including recruiting
and projects outside of the company’s core businesses, would be more heavily affected.
Amazon
Amazon.com Inc. is laying off more
than 18,000 employees concentrated in its corporate ranks. The company
said last year it was planning job reductions after more customers began returning
to bricks-and-mortar stores and have begun spending less money online.
Dell
Dell Technologies Inc. said it is cutting
about 5% of its workforce as interest rates rise and financial conditions tighten.
The cuts would amount to some
6,600 jobs, based on the 133,000 total workers that the company reported having
in early 2022, its most recent disclosed figure.
“Market conditions continue to
erode with an uncertain future,” Jeff Clarke, Dell’s co-chief operating officer,
said in a memo to employees. He said the company had already paused hiring, limited
employee travel and reduced spending on outside services. Those steps, he said,
“are no longer enough.”
Dell is taking steps to reorganize
its sales, customer-support, product-development and engineering teams, Mr. Clarke
said.
Disney
Walt Disney Co. said it plans to cut 7,000
jobs and eliminate $5.5 billion in costs as part of a corporate reorganization that
gives more power to content executives and puts a greater emphasis on sports media.
Robert Iger, who returned to the role of chief executive
in November, said on Disney’s earnings call that it was “time for another transformation.”
Disney is facing questions about the health of its streaming business, what to do
with Hulu and ESPN, and how to navigate a challenging economic climate with its
debt-heavy balance sheet.
DocuSign
DocuSign Inc. said it plans
to cut about 10% of its staff, eliminating approximately 700 jobs.
The cuts will focus on the company’s field organization, according to a securities
filing. The decision comes after another round of cuts in September, in which the
company said it was reducing its staff by about 9%.
DocuSign’s workforce nearly doubled
during the pandemic, hitting almost 7,500 at the end of January 2022, according
to regulatory filings. But investors soured on the stock as pandemic-era trends
began to normalize, and the company is now facing slowing growth.
Ericsson
Ericsson AB plans to cut
about 1,400 jobs in Sweden amid slowing demand for its 5G gear
in markets like the U.S. The telecommunications-equipment company said late last
year it planned to reduce costs by 9 billion Swedish kronor, equivalent to about
$861 million, by the end of 2023 through streamlining processes, closing facilities
and using fewer consultants.
IBM
IBM said it would
cut about 3,900 jobs, reducing its head count by about 1.4%. The cuts
stem from its spinoff of Kyndryl Holdings Inc.
and healthcare divestiture, from which the company will incur about a $300 million
charge, a spokesman said. The layoffs come as IBM posted flat sales in the fourth
quarter after the strong U.S. dollar hurt its reported revenue.
Microsoft
Microsoft said it
was laying off 10,000 employees, which would affect less than
5% of the company’s global workforce, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said in a
blog post. “We’re also seeing organizations in every industry and geography
exercise caution as some parts of the world are in a recession and other parts are
anticipating one,” Mr. Nadella said.
News Corp
News Corp said it expects
to cut 5% of jobs, or about 1,250 positions, this year. The parent
company of The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co., book publisher
HarperCollins Publishers and news organizations in the U.K. and Australia reported
lower quarterly revenue in its most recent earnings report. Chief Executive Robert
Thomson said inflation and higher interest rates had affected all of the company’s
businesses, and the job cuts would affect all divisions.
Okta
Okta Inc. said it
is laying off about 300 employees, or 5% of staff, after it went
on a hiring spree during the Covid-19 pandemic. The business-software provider had
5,030 employees as of Jan. 31, 2022, up from 2,248 at the same time in 2020, according
to regulatory filings. “This led us to overhire for the
macroeconomic reality we’re in today,“ said Todd McKinnon,
chief executive at Okta. “I wish I had responded sooner, but we’re doing the best
we can today to adjust to this reality,” he added.
Philips
Royal Philips NV said it
would cut an extra 6,000 jobs by 2025, including 3,000 this year,
as part of a reorganization aimed at improving its performance. The job cuts are
in addition to the
4,000 roles that the Dutch health-technology company said
it would eliminate in October. The cuts at Philips, which sells products including
MRI scanners and ultrasound machines, come as it has grappled with supply-chain
challenges, lower sales in China and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war. Philips
has also had to contend with the consequences of a huge recall
of devices used to treat sleep apnea.
Salesforce
Salesforce Inc. said it would cut
10% of its staff. Salesforce Co-CEO Marc Benioff said the company
overhired at the start of the pandemic and now faced sluggish
demand from customers who were cutting back on spending.
SAP
Software company SAP SE said it
would shed up to 3,000 positions after a steep profit drop late
last year. Finance Chief Luka Mucic told reporters the
job cuts would be spread across the company’s geographic footprint, with most of
them happening outside the business-software company’s home base in Germany. “The
purpose is to further focus on strategic growth areas,” Mr. Mucic
said.
Splunk
Splunk Inc. said it
is laying off about 325 employees, or 4% of its staff. The company,
which makes software used by companies’ information-technology and security operations,
also said it would scale back the use of external agencies and consultants as it
seeks to cut costs. Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that activist investor
Starboard Value LP had a stake in the company and planned
to push it to take action to boost its stock price.
Spotify
Spotify Technology SA plans to cut its workforce
by
about 6% as part of broader cost-saving measures, CEO Daniel Ek said in a note to staff.
“Over the last few months we’ve made a considerable effort to rein-in costs, but
it simply hasn’t been enough,” Mr. Ek said. “So while it is clear this path is the right one for Spotify,
it doesn’t make it any easier.”
The Stockholm-based company has
about 8,600 employees worldwide, according to its website.
Unity Software
Unity Software Inc. said it
would eliminate 284 jobs. Some of those losing their jobs may be
rehired for other positions if they apply for openings, the San Francisco-based
company said. Unity, a provider of tools for creating videogames and other applications,
previously disclosed
layoffs in June. Unity had more than 8,000 employees before its
most recent round of cuts.
Verily
Verily Life Sciences, a healthcare
unit of Alphabet, is laying
off more than 200 employees as part of a broader reorganization. The
cuts will affect about 15% of roles at Verily, which has more than 1,600 employees.
The company will discontinue work on a medical-software program called Verily Value
Suite and several early-stage products, CEO Stephen Gillett said in an email to
employees.
Vimeo
Vimeo Inc., a video-sharing platform,
said it would lay
off 11% of its staff. The company said it was making the cuts amid
slowing economic growth, including high interest rates and global recession fears.
Yahoo
Yahoo Inc. will
lay off 20% of its workforce by the end of the year, with
nearly 1,000 positions being eliminated this week, the company said. Yahoo, the
early internet pioneer now
owned by private-equity firm Apollo Global Management Inc.,
is overhauling and shrinking its advertising tech unit. The company said its ad-tech
group had “struggled to live up to our high standards” despite years of investment.
Zoom
Zoom Video Communications Inc.
is
laying off 1,300 employees, or 15% of its staff, while its chief executive
said he and other executives were taking pay cuts. Zoom grew rapidly during the
Covid-19 pandemic, as did its employee base. The CEO, Eric Yuan, said Zoom had tripled
in size in two years. But growth has cooled more recently as companies call employees
back to the office and people return to in-person activities.
Zoom had nearly 6,800 employees
as of January 2022, up from about 2,500 employees at the same time in 2020, according
to regulatory filings.
Financial
Services
BlackRock
BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset
manager, is laying off 500 employees, or around 3% of its total workforce, according
to a memo sent to employees. A BlackRock spokesman cited “an unprecedented market
environment” as the
reason for the layoffs.
BNY
Mellon
Bank of New York Mellon Corp.
plans
to cut about 3% of its workforce this year, or about 1,500 jobs,
in an attempt to cut costs, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar
with the matter. At year-end, the bank had 51,700 full-time employees. Management
positions will likely be targeted in the cuts, the people said, adding that the
company is planning to invest in junior staff, technology and operations.
Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. plans
to cut
3,200 jobs. Goldman and other Wall Street banks are curbing expenses
to offset declines in deal-making revenue. Goldman’s executives have been planning
since at least December to slash thousands of jobs.
PayPal
PayPal Holdings Inc. will
lay off 2,000 employees, or 7% of its workforce. PayPal is the latest
fintech company to cut costs in the face of high interest rates and a volatile market.
New digital payment services have also threatened its market share.
Retail
and Services
FedEx
FedEx Corp. is laying
off more than 10% of its global management staffers and
consolidating some of its teams and functions amid a shipping slowdown. The delivery
giant declined to say how many jobs were being eliminated. FedEx has already trimmed
its U.S. workforce by 12,000 since the start of the current fiscal year in June
2022, through regular attrition, a hiring freeze and other head count initiatives.
It had more than 550,000 employees globally, according to its most recent financial
statement in December.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.
is planning more cost cuts, including an
unspecified number of job reductions, as its cash pile and sales
continue to dwindle. The home-goods retailer continues to face deep obstacles in
its bid
to remain solvent. The company has said it was running
low on funds and considering several options, including seeking relief
in bankruptcy court.
Carvana
Carvana Co. is cutting
additional employees after laying off 4,000 people last year, the
Journal reported, citing employees and industry analysts. The people said the online
used-car seller is trying to stay current on more than $7 billion of debt while
facing a deep slowdown in sales. The company is terminating staff, cutting hours
and declining to fill open positions, the Journal reported, citing current and former
employees and internal emails.
Hasbro
Hasbro Inc. said it would
eliminate 15% of its global workforce, or around 1,000 positions,
this year, as it focuses on cutting costs and increasing growth rates and profitability.
The toy and entertainment company’s president and chief operating officer, Eric
Nyman, will depart as part of the changes.
McDonald’s
McDonald’s Corp. said it was planning
to make difficult decisions about changes to corporate staffing levels.
The fast-food company said it would trim or reorganize corporate staff, even as
it plans to expand its business globally. The CEO said he expects to save money
from the staffing changes but doesn’t have a set number of jobs he is looking to
cut.
Stitch Fix
Stitch Fix Inc. said it is trimming
20%
of the company’s salaried jobs. The company, which provides personalized shipments
of apparel, shoes and accessories, has been facing a sales downturn. The San Francisco-based
company said Elizabeth Spaulding would resign as chief executive after spending
less than 18 months in the role. The company’s founder is returning to lead the
company.
Wonder Group
Food-delivery startup Wonder Group is laying
off staff as the company overhauls its business strategy. Wonder had
planned to roll
out a nationwide fleet of food trucks, but said it has shifted to
a less expensive restaurant-delivery model that will allow it to save money at a
time when funding remains tight. The company’s majority owner and chief executive
is Marc Lore, an experienced entrepreneur and former Walmart Inc. e-commerce executive.
Crypto
Coinbase
Coinbase Global Inc. said
that it would eliminate around 20% of its staff and enact broad cost cuts, the
latest sign of pain in the cryptocurrency industry. The
cryptocurrency exchange will reduce operating expenses by 25% from the previous
quarter, including laying off about 950 people. At the end of September, the company
had around 4,700 employees. Rival exchange FTX’s collapse has sparked a fresh round
of layoffs across the crypto industry. In a
blog post explaining the layoffs, CEO Brian Armstrong cited “the fallout
from unscrupulous actors in the industry, and there could still be further contagion.”
Crypto.com
Crypto.com is cutting
20% of its global workforce in a second round of layoffs in six months.
In a
blog post, the cryptocurrency exchange’s co-founder and chief executive
officer, Kris Marszalek, didn’t specify how many employees
were laid off. Several hundred individuals found out on the day of the announcement
that they no longer had access to Crypto.com’s systems
and were being laid off, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Crypto.com has gained attention
for its splashy marketing campaigns in recent years, including buying
the rights to rename the home venue of the Los Angeles Lakers, which
is now Crypto.com Arena.
Genesis
Crypto lender Genesis Global
Trading Inc. laid
off 30% of its staff and then filed
for bankruptcy protection. The layoffs weren’t confined to one department
and were across the company, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the
matter. Genesis has 145 employees left after the recent layoffs. Roughly two weeks
after the layoff announcement, the New-York based firm filed for bankruptcy protection
alongside two of its subsidiaries.
Autos
and Manufacturing
Boeing
Boeing Co. said it would
cut about 2,000 jobs, primarily in finance and human resources, through
layoffs and attrition. It will outsource some of the jobs. The Arlington, Va., aerospace
manufacturer is planning to increase its overall head count this year, however.
It said in January that it would add 10,000 jobs in total this year, focusing on
engineering and manufacturing.
Dow
Dow Inc. said it
is laying off about 2,000 employees globally. The Midland, Mich.-based
chemicals company said it is targeting $1 billion in cost cuts this year as slowing
economic growth and a drop-off in demand weigh on sales. Dow said it is also shutting
down certain assets and broadly looking to align spending with the macroeconomic
environment.
Ford
Ford Motor Co. said it is planning
to cut 3,800 jobs in Europe over the next three years. The layoffs are
intended to help the auto maker cut costs and boost profit amid its push to invest
$50 billion in the development of electric vehicles over the next few years.
The layoffs will largely target
the auto maker’s European product-development staff, with the largest cuts expected
in Germany and the U.K. Ford has been relying more heavily on U.S. development and
electric-vehicle technology it licensed from Volkswagen AG.
Rivian
Rivian Automotive Inc.
plans to initiate
another round of layoffs, the latest in the electric-vehicle startup’s efforts to preserve cash. In a note to employees,
Chief Executive RJ Scaringe said Rivian
plans to trim another 6% of its workforce, mirroring a
cut of the same size made last summer in response to inflationary
pressures and an uncertain economic climate.
3M
3M Co. said it
is cutting 2,500 manufacturing jobs globally as the company confronts
turbulence in overseas markets and weakening consumer demand. The maker of Scotch
tape, Post-it Notes and thousands of other industrial and consumer products said
it expects lower sales and profit in 2023 after demand
weakened significantly in late 2022, pulling down quarterly performance.