The biggest layoffs in global tech in the first half of 2023

In the context of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic not yet fully overcome, strategic competition between major countries is increasingly fierce, the world economy tends to decline. Large technology companies in the world tend to cut human resources to reduce costs and maintain effective operations.

Data compiled from Layoffs.fyi, an online tracker of tech job losses, shows that 867 tech companies globally have laid off about 219,709 employees so far this year, compared with 164,411 employees laid off in all of last year.

Here's a list of the most notable tech layoffs in the first half of 2023.

Tech giant Meta (Facebook)

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on March 14 that he would cut 10,000 jobs this year, making Meta the first major tech company to announce a second round of layoffs as the industry braces for a deep recession.

The widely expected job cuts are part of Meta's restructuring, which will see the company scrap plans to hire for 5,000 new positions, prioritize projects lower and shrink its middle management team.

In Meta's first wave of mass layoffs in late 2022, more than 11,000 jobs were cut, or 13% of the company's workforce, at the time, after a hiring spree that doubled its headcount so far in 2020.

Meta hopes to streamline its operations by removing layers of management and requiring managers to become individual contributors, while eliminating non-technical positions, automating more functions and at least partially reversing the “remote-first” work commitment Zuckerberg made amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

With this latest staff cut plan, Meta expects expenses in 2023 to be between $86 billion and $92 billion, lower than the previous forecast of $89 billion to $95 billion.

Alphabet multinational technology corporation

In a message to employees last January, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet - Google's parent company, said laying off 12,000 employees was a difficult decision.

“This means saying goodbye to some of the talent we’ve worked so hard to hire. I’m deeply sorry. The reality is that this change will impact the lives of Googlers. I take full responsibility for the decisions that got us here,” Pichai said.

The 12,000 employees represent more than 6% of the company's workforce, according to Reuters. The global layoffs have affected divisions like Google's internal incubator Area 120 and robotics division Intrinsic.

While acknowledging that the company is certainly going through a difficult economic cycle, Pichai remains “confident about the tremendous opportunity given the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in artificial intelligence (AI).”

Affected employees will be compensated at least two months of salary. They will also receive a severance package of 16 weeks of salary, plus two weeks for each year of service at Google, along with a 2022 bonus. Workers will also be provided with six months of health care, job placement services, and immigration assistance if needed.

Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft has begun the second-largest wave of layoffs in its history, signaling that it will cut 10,000 jobs between mid-January and the end of March. Like other tech giants, Microsoft is cutting costs as customers reduce spending during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, about 5% of the company's global workforce will be laid off this time. The last time Microsoft cut large numbers was in 2014, when 18,000 employees lost their jobs as the company withdrew from the mobile phone and other businesses.

Nadella cited the economic downturn as one of the reasons for this difficult decision. In a letter to employees, CEO Nadella said the company will exit some areas but will focus resources and continue to recruit for strategic positions. Microsoft is expected to pay about $ 1.2 billion to settle unemployment costs for 10,000 employees.

Some of the divisions that are expected to see the biggest layoffs include the division that makes the HoloLens headset, the company that provides a web-based Git repository service for software development projects (GitHub), and the mixed reality research and development teams.

Multinational e-commerce corporation Amazon

Tech and e-commerce giant Amazon recently completed the largest round of layoffs in its 29-year history. Amazon laid off 18,000 employees in the months between November last year and early this year, mostly from its retail and recruiting teams. The tech giant then announced another 9,000 layoffs in its cloud computing, human resources, and advertising divisions in March, and more than 100 in its gaming division in April.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been aggressively cutting costs across the company as the e-retailer navigates the economic downturn and slowing revenue growth. Jassy, ​​unsurprisingly, blames the “unstable economy” and the hiring spree of recent years.

He said that the lean organization allows the company to invest more heavily in customer experiences and improving the lives of users and employees. He also affirmed that he is “optimistic about the future and the opportunities” that Amazon has, including in the most important areas of retail stores and the comprehensive cloud platform (AWS).

IBM multinational computer technology corporation

While most tech giants have been laying off employees since the pandemic as a result of shifting corporate strategies, for IBM, it’s been financial hardship. The computer technology giant cut 1.5% of its workforce in late January after offloading both its AI-based healthcare business (Watson Health) and its infrastructure management division.

IBM currently employs about 260,000 workers and continues to hire for software development and customer-facing roles, according to online data from Layoffs.fyi. But CEO Arvind Krishna reiterated in May that the company expects to pause hiring for roles it believes could be replaced by artificial intelligence in the coming years. In an interview with Bloomberg, Krishna said hiring for back-office functions — such as human resources — would be halted or slowed.

While the layoffs at IBM earlier this year amounted to about 5,000 workers once they were complete, Krishna said IBM has added to its workforce overall, bringing in nearly 7,000 people in the first quarter of this year.

Salesforce cloud-based software solutions company

Salesforce started the year warning that it would lay off 8,000 employees, or about 10% of its workforce. While the cloud-based software brand has thrived during the pandemic with rapidly rising revenue, it admitted that it had overstaffed during the boom and couldn’t maintain those staffing levels while the economy was in recession.

However, sources say that Salesforce, like tech giants Meta and Amazon, could also be making a second round of layoffs. According to a Bloomberg report, Salesforce could be making another round of job cuts as the company looks to focus more on profitability.

Multinational e-commerce company Shopify

After announcing a 10% reduction in staff last July, Shopify followed up with a 20% layoff of its global workforce in May of this year. According to human resources filings, Shopify had 11,600 employees at the end of its last fiscal year, so the 20% reduction announced two months ago amounts to more than 2,300 people.

The Canadian e-commerce company is now downsizing as the pandemic recedes, even selling its logistics business to US supply chain and logistics management group Flexport. Founder Tobi Lütke described the job cuts as necessary to keep Shopify’s core mission intact, acknowledging that the company needs to become more efficient once the “stable economic boom” is over.

Other notable tech layoffs

It's not just the tech giants that are laying off employees, smaller tech companies, which were caught up in the pandemic-induced hiring frenzy, are now also feeling the consequences and having to lay off their employees.

Zoom Video Communications Technology Company:Zoom announced on February 7 that it would lay off about 1,300 employees, or 15% of its workforce. Zoom will incur costs of $50 million to $68 million related to the layoffs, with the company saying a significant portion of that will be spent in the first quarter of its 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Dell Technology Company:Dell is the latest major tech company to join the wave of layoffs, laying off 6,650 people, or 5% of its workforce. Dell Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke said that they were making some difficult decisions regarding the departure of some members of the organization for the long-term benefit and success of Dell.

Yahoo Technology Company:According to the plan, by the end of 2023, Yahoo will complete cutting 20% ​​of its total number of employees, equivalent to about 1,600 employees.

PayPal e-commerce company:PayPal said it will cut 2,000 jobs, or 7% of its total workforce, in early 2023 as it grapples with the macroeconomic downturn that has weighed on its business in recent quarters.

SAP Enterprise Software Development Company:Germany-based SAP, Europe's largest enterprise software developer, said it also plans to cut about 2,800 jobs, or 2.5% of its total workforce, as part of a targeted restructuring program in selected areas of the company.

Twitter Technology Company:Since early November 2022, just a few weeks after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion, billionaire Elon Musk has been restructuring the social network by laying off about 3,700 out of 7,500 employees to cut operating costs.

But as one door closes, another opens, with new opportunities for laid-off tech workers. Experts say there are plenty of opportunities elsewhere, with many companies scrambling to recruit top tech talent.

Many survey results show that, although there have been many layoffs in the technology sector around the world in recent times, the demand for jobs in this field is increasing, especially in non-technology companies that have increased the application of technology./.