Citing the global macroeconomic conditions, Big Tech firms and startups across the spectrum have sacked employees, and layoffs continue to happen….reports Asian Lite News
As generative AI threatens millions of jobs, tech companies globally are now sacking employees even in the holiday season (they had spared workers in 2021 and 2022 festive seasons amid the global meltdown and started layoffs only in the first month of the New Year).
Tech companies, including startups, around the world have fired more than 425,000 employees in the last two years (till December 26, 2023), with more than 36,000 employees being sacked in India in the same time period.
Citing the global macroeconomic conditions, Big Tech firms and startups across the spectrum have sacked employees, and layoffs continue to happen.
According to the latest data from layoff.fyi, a website that tracks tech sector job cuts, 1,178 tech companies have laid off 260,771 lakh employees this year globally (as of December 26).
In 2022, 1,061 tech companies laid off 164,769 employees.
On average, about 582 employees lost their jobs every day in the last two years – or more than 24 workers every hour.
In terms of sector, retail-tech, consumer-tech and fintech were the ones which laid off the most employees in this year.
Paytm has just laid off over 1,000 employees in an effort to reduce costs and realign its businesses.
Social media platform ShareChat asked 200 employees, or about 15 per cent of its workforce, to go as part of strategic restructuring.
Game streaming platform Loco has laid off about 36 per cent of its workforce, or 40 employees, from its total staff strength of 110.
Google-backed edtech platform Adda247 laid off around 250-300 employees across verticals. Edtech major Byju’s laid off 4,000–5,000 employees in a “business restructuring exercise”.
The startup has eliminated more than 10,000 positions in the past two years.
Homegrown quick-grocery delivery provider Dunzo reportedly laid off at least “150-200” more employees amid severe cash crunch in September.
The startup had already sacked nearly 400 employees so far this year in two job cut rounds.
Earlier, top global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley laid off nearly 3,000 jobs in its second round of job cuts this year amid a continuing global meltdown…reports Asian Lite News
British multinational investment firm Barclays is reportedly planning to lay off hundreds of employees, likely next week, in order to reduce costs.
The UK banking giant may cut as many as 400 jobs in its domestic retail business.
Bloomberg reported, citing people close to the matter, that the bank is planning to reduce nearly 5 per cent of “client-facing staff in the trading division as well as some dealmakers globally.”
Barclays is also reportedly preparing to restructure teams within its UK consumer-banking unit.
A Barclays spokesperson said in a statement that they “do not comment on speculation”.
“We regularly review our operations to ensure we meet the evolving needs of our customers and clients in an efficient and effective way,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Earlier, top global brokerage firm Morgan Stanley laid off nearly 3,000 jobs in its second round of job cuts this year amid a continuing global meltdown.
In December 2022, the global investment advisory firm cut about 2 per cent of its global workforce, or about 1,600 employees.
Morgan Stanley followed rival Goldman Sachs and other investment firms including Citigroup and Barclays in reducing their workforce.
Goldman Sachs eliminated about 3,200 jobs in January in one of its biggest cuts ever.
Although the tech industry has seen a shocking number of job cuts last year, 2023 has been much worse….reports Asian Lite News
Tech companies have laid off 226,000 employees so far this year, almost 40 per cent more than in 2022, a report showed on Tuesday.
Although the tech industry has seen a shocking number of job cuts last year, 2023 has been much worse.
The massive wave of layoffs has shut down hundreds of thousands of workplaces, turning 2023 into the worst year the tech industry has ever seen, according to data by AltIndex.com.
Between January and December 2022, tech companies laid off 164,744 employees, almost eleven times more than 15,000 reported a year before, as per data from Layoffs.fyi.
A shocking 75,912 people lost their jobs in January alone, almost half of all layoffs reported in 2022.
February saw a decline with roughly 40,000 job cuts. Although the number of layoffs continued falling in the next three months, tech companies still reported almost 73,000 job cuts in this period.
Since then, they have let go nearly 24,000 staff members, pushing the total number of layoffs to 226,117 as of last week, said the report.
Facing an uncertain global economy, inflation, ongoing supply chain issues, and slowing revenue growth, the tech companies picked up the pace of layoffs in 2023, led by giants like Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon.
“But hundreds of other smaller tech companies, from retail and crypto to the transportation market, have also been forced to make painful cost-cutting measures, resulting in the highest number of layoffs the tech industry has ever seen,” the report noted.
The layoff figures for the last three years are even worse. Statistics show that tech companies laid off more than 405,000 people since the beginning of 2021.
US tech giants had a massive role in the 2023 wave of layoffs. In fact, statistics show US companies made eight out of the ten largest job cuts reported this year, the report noted.
CoinDesk to slash workforce
Cryptocurrency news company CoinDesk is reportedly slashing its workforce, as a group of investors was likely in the final stages to acquire it for about $125 million, the media reported on Monday.
According to an internal email seen by TechCrunch, Kevin Worth, CEO of CoinDesk, wrote that “several roles, predominantly in our media team, were impacted by a reduction in force”.
“This was a required step to ensure a financially sound business moving forward and to set us on the path to close the deal to sell CoinDesk,” Worth added.
CoinDesk was yet to comment on the development.
Last week, reports surfaced that a group of investors is reportedly in final stages to acquire cryptocurrency news company CoinDesk.
CoinDesk is currently owned by crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), which acquired it in 2016.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a group led by blockchain investors Matthew Roszak of Tally Capital and Peter Vessenes of Capital6 were “nearing a $125 million deal for CoinDesk”.
CoinDesk is a news site specialising in bitcoin and digital currencies. It also provides guides to bitcoin for those new to digital currencies.
Founded by entrepreneur Shakil Khan in 2013, the site was subsequently acquired by DCG for an estimated $500,000-$600,000.
In 2017, the company acquired blockchain data and research platform Lawnmower. In 2021, it acquired cryptocurrency data analytics firm TradeBlock.
According to reports, the acquisition of CoinDesk, if it happens, will help strengthen DCG’s financial condition.
Investors closes in on acquiring CoinDesk for $125 mn: Report
SecureWorks joins layoff club
Cyber-security company SecureWorks has announced to lay off 15 per cent of its workforce, in its second round of job cuts this year.
In a regulatory filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SecureWorks said that it would incur about $14.2 million in expenses due to the layoffs.
These expenses are anticipated to consist primarily of severance and other termination benefits, as well as real estate-related expenses.
“SecureWorks announced to employees a plan to reduce the company’s workforce by approximately 15 per cent and to implement certain real estate‑related cost optimisation actions,” it said in the filing.
The company’s CEO Wendy Thomas said there is the need to “simplify and scale our business and to deliver profitable growth”.
In February this year, SecureWorks, backed by Dell Technologies, had laid off about 9 per cent of the workforce globally as part of its restructuring
plans.
The company last disclosed its workforce in a regulatory filing in March 2022 to 2,351 employees.
“Our business is evolving with our partners and customers in support of their security needs,” Thomas had said.
Last week, another US-based cybersecurity firm Rapid7 laid off around 470 employees, or 18 per cent of its workforce.
The Boston-based company expects that the majority of the restructuring charges will be incurred in the third and fourth quarter of 2023.
The company had over 2,600 full-time employees and over 700 employees in Massachusetts.
Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that the company will cut 10,000 jobs across two rounds of layoffs in late April and late May…reports Asian Lite News
Meta Platforms Inc expects to cut around 490 jobs at its international headquarters in Dublin, or almost 20% of its Irish workforce, part of 10,000 global layoffs announced in March, the social media company said on Wednesday.
Facebook-parent Meta started carrying out the last batch of the global layoffs on Wednesday. The roles impacted in Dublin, where it has 2,500 full-time employees, include finance, sales, marketing, analytics, operations, and engineering.
Meta laid off 320 Irish employees in November in an initial round of global cuts and the final number of redundancies in this round will be subject to collective consultation.
Earlier this week, Meta conducted a fresh round of layoffs that was set to impact about 6,000 employees globally. These job cuts were part of the company’s so-called “Year of Efficiency,” in which Meta is being restructured to cut costs, reports TechCrunch.
The third round of layoffs affected Meta’s business departments.
Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that the company will cut 10,000 jobs across two rounds of layoffs in late April and late May.
In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said overall, “we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired” in the company’s “year of efficiency”. Meta already eliminated 11,000 roles in November last year. In total, about 21,000 people have lost their jobs at the social network across departments.
The tech giant cut around 4,000 of the planned 10,000 positions last month, leaving nearly 6,000 positions potentially on the chopping block. According to reports, in April, Meta almost wiped out its team dedicated to combating misinformation.
At the end of 2022, Meta had around 86,000 employees. Meta is also no longer listing new remote positions, as managers have reportedly been forbidden from posting new listings with a remote-work option.
Zuckerberg has said that after restructuring, Meta plans to lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group.
1,046 tech companies laid off more than 1.61 lakh employees in 2022…report Asian Lite News
The year 2023 employees has become the worst year for tech as nearly 2 lakh tech employees — from Big Tech firms to startups — have been sacked to date globally, as companies like Meta, BT, Vodafone and many others announced further plans to lay off more employees in coming months.
As per the data by layoffs tracking site Layoffs.fyi, 695 tech companies have shown the doors to around 1.98 lakh employees so far this year.
In comparison, 1,046 tech companies laid off more than 1.61 lakh employees in 2022.
In January alone this year, close to 1 lakh tech employees lost jobs globally, dominated by companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Salesforce and others.
In total, about 3.6 lakh tech employees have now lost their jobs in 2022 and till May this year.
As more and more Big Tech companies continue to sack employees, they listed various reasons behind the move — over-hiring, uncertain global macroeconomic conditions, strong tailwinds from the Covid-19 pandemic and more.
Meta (formerly Facebook) is reportedly going to start laying off more employees next week in its third round of job cuts.
While the exact number has not been confirmed, it is expected that the company will lay off approximately 6,000 employees in this round.
Amazon India laid off around 400-500 employees from its Cloud division AWS as well as People Experience and Technology Solutions (PXT) or HR and support verticals this month.
Fintech unicorn Zepz is laying off 420 employees, or 26 per cent of its workforce.
The UK telecommunication giant BT Group has announced plans to slash a massive 55,000 jobs by the end of the decade.
Global telecom carrier Vodafone said it plans to reduce 11,000 jobs over the next three years, with an aim to “simplify” both headquarters and local markets.
Meanwhile, Microsoft will not give any raise to salaried employees, including senior leaders, this year as global macroeconomic conditions continue to haunt Big Tech.
Cognizant launches vax drive for 6.5 lakh strong ecosystem in India.
IT giant will also reduce its real estate costs by “eliminating 80,000 seats and 11 million square feet in large cities in India”….reports Asian Lite News
IT major Cognizant on Thursday said it will lay off 3,500 employees, or approximately 1 per cent of its workforce (mainly non-billable), as it sees revenues slowing down in 2023.
The company will also reduce its real estate costs by “eliminating 80,000 seats and 11 million square feet in large cities in India”.
Cognizant has initiated a ‘NextGen’ programme aimed at simplifying its operating model, optimising corporate functions and consolidating and realigning office space to reflect the post-pandemic hybrid work environment.
“We expect the personnel-related actions of this programme to impact approximately 3,500 employees or approximately 1 per cent of our workforce,” the company said in a statement.
“Our drive for simplification will include operating with fewer layers in an effort to enhance agility and enable faster decision-making. The company expects savings generated by the program to help fund continued investments in people, revenue growth opportunities, and the modernisation of office space,” the company added.
The total employee headcount at the end of the first quarter was 3,51,500, a decrease of 3,800 from the previous quarter 2022 and an increase of 11,100 from Q1 2022, according to the company.
Cognizant reported a 3 per cent (year-on-year) rise in its net profit to $580 million in the March quarter of FY23.
The company reported revenue of $4.8 billion, which declined 0.3 per cent year-over-year, in Q1 2023.
“Our accelerated bookings growth in the quarter, which included several large deals and a healthy mix of new and expansion work, reflects the strengths of our services, our brand, and the longstanding relationships we have with our clients. I am also encouraged by the continuing reduction in our voluntary attrition,” said Ravi Kumar.
Under the ‘NextGen’ programme, Cognizant expects to record costs of approximately $400 million with approximately $350 million of such costs anticipated in 2023 and approximately $50 million in 2024.
Amazon has announced that it will be shutting down its go-to camera reviews website ‘DPReview’ in the near future after nearly 25 years of operation…reports Asian Lite News
Amazon has shuttered its health-focused Halo division and discontinued Halo Band, Halo View, and Halo Rise devices which are no longer available on its website. The company has also laid off employees from the Halo team.
The company said in a blog post late on Wednesday that beginning on August 1, Amazon Halo devices, and the Amazon Halo app, will no longer function.
“We recently made the very difficult decision to stop supporting Amazon Halo effective July 31, 2023. We notified impacted employees in the US and Canada today. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees,” said Amazon.
For employees who are impacted by this decision, Amazon is providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.
In the coming weeks, Amazon will fully refund purchases made in the preceding 12 months of Amazon Halo View, Amazon Halo Band, Amazon Halo Rise, and Amazon Halo accessory bands.
“In addition, any unused prepaid Halo subscriptions fees will be refunded to your original payment method. If you have a paid subscription, as of today you will no longer be charged the monthly subscription fee. You do not need to take any additional steps,” said the e-commerce giant.
Amazon launched the original Halo Band in 2020.
The company said it encourages users to recycle Amazon Halo devices and accessories through the Amazon Recycling Programme.
Meanwhile, Amazon has announced that it will shut down its UK-based online bookstore ‘Book Depository’, which it acquired in 2011, on April 26.
According to The Guardian, this comes after Amazon announced it had decided to ‘eliminate’ a number of positions across its Devices and Books businesses.
Stuart Felton and Andrew Crawford, former Amazon employees, founded Book Depository in 2004 with the mantra of selling ‘less of more’ rather than ‘more of less’, the report said.
The company sent out an email to vendors and publishing partners explaining that Book Depository will be closing and that the last date customers will be able to place orders is April 26.
“Over the coming weeks, we will complete a winding down of the business, including discontinuing our listings as a marketplace seller and closing our website,” Andy Chart, head of vendor management, was quoted as saying.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you, from everyone at Book Depository and our book-loving customers, for your supportive partnership over the years in helping us to make printed books more accessible to readers around the world,” he added
The report said that this move is part of wider cutbacks at Amazon which it announced in January.
Meanwhile, Amazon has announced that it will be shutting down its go-to camera reviews website ‘DPReview’ in the near future after nearly 25 years of operation.
“The site will remain active until April 10, and the editorial team is still working on reviews and looking forward to delivering some of our best-ever content,” said Scott Everett, General Manager of DPReview.com.
Lenovo led the global PC market with 22.4 per cent market share, followed by HP Inc at 21.1 per cent and Dell Technologies at 16.7 per cent…reports Asian Lite News
Global technology brand Lenovo has reportedly started laying off employees, as its PC business suffers significantly amid economic downturn.
According to a report in CRN, the job cuts at Levono are “part of a roughly $115 million cost-cutting plan”. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing had informed in February about a coming “workforce adjustment” as part of a broader reduction in spending.
The company had about 75,000 employees at the end of its 2022 fiscal year.
“Like our CEO Yuanqing Yang said at our most recent quarterly earnings announcement, we are reducing operational expenses and making workforce adjustments where necessary and appropriate,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We continue to invest in the areas that accelerate growth and the overall transformation of the company,” the spokesperson told WRAL TechWire.
A “severe downturn” in the PC and smartphone markets caused the company’s revenue to drop 24 per cent (year-on-year) to $15.3 billion and net income to $437 million in the quarter ended December 31.
The company had hinted at the job cuts in future as part of the overall cost reduction. Lenovo CFO Wong Wai Ming had blamed the downturn on a “confluence of global economic challenges and dynamic shifts in market demand”.
In the March quarter (Q1 2023), weak demand, excess inventory and a worsening macroeconomic climate resulted in the global shipments of traditional PCs recording 56.9 million, a huge 29 per cent drop compared to the same quarter last year, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).
Lenovo led the global PC market with 22.4 per cent market share, followed by HP Inc at 21.1 per cent and Dell Technologies at 16.7 per cent.
According to the report, the pause in growth and demand is also giving the supply chain some room to make changes as many factories begin to explore production options outside China. If recession in key markets drags into next year, recovery could be a slog.
In March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would cut 10,000 jobs in the coming months…reports Asian Lite News
Meta (formerly Facebook) has kicked off a fresh round of layoffs, handing over pink slips to employees with technical backgrounds globally.
Several Meta employees went to LinkedIn to post their ordeal, saying they have been asked to go.
“I woke up this morning to the unfortunate news that I was one of the many laid-off from Meta today. If you have any career opportunities, please feel free to share with me! My focus for the past 3 years have been primarily on establishing programs focused on increasing OpEx & headcount org efficiency,” posted Teresa Jimenez, business Programme manager at Facebook.
She said that several “product-centred Technical Program Managers unfortunately have been impacted today as well. Please reach out to me if you have any opportunities and I’ll introduce”.
The job cuts have impacted people working in verticals like user experience, software engineering, graphics programming and other roles.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC the cuts had started. According to reports, Meta layoffs hit Instagram office in London and employees there could either be cut or relocated as part of the company’s latest round of layoffs.
Meta is reportedly set to lay off at least 4,000 highly-skilled employees this week.
In March, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would cut 10,000 jobs in the coming months.
Meta will also announce newly reorganised teams and management hierarchies. The fresh cuts came just four months after Meta laid off 11,000 employees, or 13 per cent of the company’s workforce, in November last year.
Social media company ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions…reports Asian Lite News
As layoffs continue to deepen amid recession fears, more than 23,000 employees have been laid off by at least 82 startups in India, and the list is only growing, the media reported.
According to a report in Inc42, 19 edtech startups, including four unicorns, have alone sacked more than 8,460 employees to date.
The startups that lead the layoff tally include BYJU’S, Ola, OYO, Meesho, MPL, LivSpace, Innovaccer, Udaan, Unacademy and Vedantu, among others.
Home interiors and renovation platform Livspace this week laid off at least 100 employees as part of cost-cutting measures.
Last week, SaaS platform for online stores Dukaan laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce, or around 60 employees — its second layoff in about six months.
Healthcare unicorn Pristyn Care has also sacked up to 350 employees across departments and impacted employees from sales, tech and product teams.
Online higher education company upGrad laid off nearly 30 per cent of its workforce at its subsidiary “Campus”.
In February, end-to-end global delivery management platform FarEye laid off 90 employees, which was its second layoffs in about eight months amid the economic meltdown.
With the onset of January, more and more Indian startups are slashing jobs across the spectrum.
Social media company ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions.
The layoff impacted about 500 people at the company.
National Public Radio lays off 100 employees
National Public Radio (NPR), a Washington-based nonprofit media organisation, has begun to sack 10 per cent of its staff, or about 100 employees, and stopped production of four acclaimed seasonal podcasts, as it struggles with financial woes.
“We literally are fighting to secure the future of NPR at this very moment by restructuring our cost structure. It’s that important. It’s existential,” said NPR chief executive John Lansing.
Most affected NPR employees will stay on until April 28.
NPR aims to cut back its workforce from approximately 1,200 to about 1,050 employees.
Last month, the global media outlet announced plans to lay off about 10 per cent of its current workforce, as its financial outlook has “darkened considerably over recent weeks.”
According to NPR, its financial woes can be traced mainly to advertisers’ growing reluctance to spend money, particularly on podcasting, in an uncertain economy”.
Other media outlets, including Gannett, CNN and Vox Media, and tech powerhouses such as Amazon, Google and Meta also have had layoffs in recent months.
Several veteran NPR staffers like Karen Grigsby Bates and Sylvia Poggioli announced her retirement on social media.
The layoffs also affected people who work behind the scenes to produce the shows and podcasts, design visual elements for the web, and conduct audience research.
National Public Radio.(photo:wikipedia)
According to Lansing, NPR structured the layoffs in such a way that its workforce demographics remain unchanged and “42 per cent of remaining employees are people of colour and 58 per cent are women”.
NPR last year froze most vacant positions and reduced travel.
“We’ve tried very hard to sustain the essential things that will keep us moving forward,” Anya Grundmann, NPR’s senior vice president of programming and audience development, was quoted as saying.
The nonprofit network’s layoffs represent its largest reduction in staff since the 2008 recession.
It serves as a national syndicator to a network of over 1,000 public radio stations in the US.
