(Reuters) – Economic uncertainties due to a rapid rise in interest rates forced U.S. companies like tech behemoth Amazon.com and Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs to slash thousands of jobs in a quest to rein in costs.
Many companies such as Meta Platforms even resorted to more than one round of layoffs as the economic outlook showed no signs of material improvement through 2023, forcing them to further tighten spending. Here are some of the job cuts by major American companies announced in recent months.
TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA AND TELECOM SECTOR
Meta Platforms:
The Facebook-parent said it would cut 10,000 jobs, just four months after it let go 11,000 employees.
IBM Corp:
The software and consulting firm said it will lay off 3,900 employees.
Spotify Technology SA:
Music streaming service Spotify is laying off around 1,500 employees, or 17% of its headcount, after letting go of 600 staffers in January and 200 more in June.
Alphabet:
Alphabet is eliminating 12,000 jobs, its chief executive said in a staff memo.
Microsoft Corp:
The U.S. tech giant said it would cut 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2023.
The company laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions in October, Axios reported, citing a source.
Amazon.com:
The e-commerce giant will cut another 9,000 jobs in its cloud services, advertising and Twitch units after announcing company-wide layoffs earlier this year that would impact over 18,000 employees.
Intel Corp:
CEO Pat Gelsinger told Reuters “people actions” would be part of a cost-reduction plan. The chipmaker said it would reduce costs by $3 billion in 2023.
X, formerly known as Twitter:
The social media company has laid off at least 200 employees, or about 10% of its workforce, the New York Times reported. The layoffs come after X terminated about 3,700 people, representing about half of the total staff, in November 2022, soon after Elon Musk took over the firm.
Lyft:
The ride-hailing firm said it would lay off 13% of its workforce, or about 683 employees, after it already cut 60 jobs early in 2022 and froze hiring by September last year. In April this year, it said it would lay off about 1,072 employees.
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.
Cisco Systems:
The networking and collaboration solutions company said it will undertake restructuring which could impact roughly 5% of its workforce. The effort began in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023 and cost the company $600 million.
HP:
The computing devices maker said it expected to cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of fiscal year 2025.
Workday:
The software company will cut roughly 500 jobs, or 3% of its workforce, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment.
NetApp:
The cloud firm announced an 8% reduction in its global workforce. The company had 12,000 employees as of April 29, 2022.
Rivian Automotive:
The company is laying off 6% of its workforce in an effort to cut costs as the EV maker, already grappling with falling cash reserves and a weak economy, braces for an industry-wide price war.
Match Group:
The Tinder parent said on Feb. 1 this year it would lay off about 8% of its workforce, a day after it forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street expectations.
Dell Technologies:
The company said in February 2023 it would eliminate about 6,650 jobs, or 5% of its global workforce, as the PC maker grapples with falling demand and braces for economic uncertainty.
Palantir Technologies:
The data analytics firm said it had cut about 2% of its workforce. Palantir, known for its work with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, had 3,838 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Twilio:
The cloud communications company said it would cut an additional 5% of its workforce. In February this year it had said it would eliminate about 17% of roles as part of a restructuring effort to focus on profitability.
FINANCIAL SECTOR
Goldman Sachs Group:
Goldman Sachs began laying off staff on Jan. 11, 2023, in a sweeping cost-cutting drive, with around a third of those affected coming from the investment banking and global markets division, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The job cuts are expected to be just over 3,000, one of the sources said on Jan. 9, in what would be the biggest workforce reduction for the bank since the financial crisis.
Morgan Stanley:
The Wall Street powerhouse was planning to cut about 3,000 jobs in the second quarter ended June 30, Reuters reported in May.
In December 2022, the bank had laid off about 1,600 employees, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Citigroup:
The bank eliminated dozens of jobs across its investment banking division in November 2022, as a dealmaking slump continued to weigh on Wall Street’s biggest banks, Bloomberg News reported.
BlackRock:
The asset manager is cutting up to 500 jobs, Insider reported, citing a memo.
Lazard:
The New York-based investment bank said in April it would cut around 10% of its workforce in 2023.
Genesis:
The cryptocurrency firm has cut 30% of its workforce in a second round of layoffs in less than six months, Reuters reported in January.
Coinbase Global:
The cryptocurrency exchange slashed about 950 jobs earlier this year, marking the third round of workforce reduction in less than a year after cryptocurrencies, already squeezed by rising interest rates, came under renewed pressure following the collapse of major exchange FTX.
Stripe:
The digital payments firm said it was cutting its headcount by about 14% and would have about 7,000 employees after the layoffs, according to an email to employees from the company’s founders in November last year.
CONSUMER AND RETAIL SECTOR
Beyond Meat:
The vegan meat maker said it plans to cut 200 jobs this year, with the layoffs expected to save about $39 million.
DoorDash:
The food delivery firm, which enjoyed a growth surge during the pandemic, said in November last year it had cut its corporate headcount by about 1,250 employees.
Bed Bath & Beyond:
The retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, cut 1,300 jobs at four locations in New Jersey in March this year. Last year, company executives had said the home goods retailer was cutting about 20% of its corporate and supply chain workforce.
ENERGY AND RESOURCES SECTOR
Dow:
The U.S. chemicals maker said it would cut about 2,000 jobs as it navigates challenges including inflation and supply chain disruptions.
Phillips 66:
The refiner reduced employee headcount by over 1,100 as it seeks to meet its 2022 cost savings target of $500 million. The reductions were communicated to employees in late October 2022.
HEALTH AND PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR
Johnson & Johnson:
The pharmaceuticals giant said in October last year it might cut some jobs amid inflationary pressure and a strong dollar, with CFO Joseph Wolk saying the healthcare conglomerate is looking at “right sizing” itself.
MANUFACTURING SECTOR
3M Co:
The industrial conglomerate said in April it will cut about 6,000 positions globally in a second round of layoffs this year. In January, it said it would cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs after reporting a lower profit.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Akash Sriram, Granth Vanaik, Eva Mathews, Yuvraj Malik, Sourasis Bose, Priyamvada C, Tiyashi Datta, Manya Saini and Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Maju Samuel, Sriraj Kalluvila and Pooja Desai)
