Amazon tech layoffs roll on -3-

The tech giant also added to the 111 job cuts previously announced in Folsom, Calif., at a campus dedicated to research and development. There were 176 layoffs effective Jan. 31, and an additional 167 job cuts effective March 15.

Now read: Intel cuts hundreds more jobs in California, and indicates more to come

Intel also expected more layoffs will be detailed in future filings.

In October, Intel announced plans for job cuts as it reported its third-quarter results. The chip maker said it was focused on driving $3 billion in cost reductions in 2023. "Inclusive in our efforts will be steps to optimize our headcount," Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said during a conference call with analysts to discuss the third-quarter results.

The chipmaker had 121,000-plus employees worldwide at the end of 2021.

Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) joined other tech giants in the layoffs spotlight when the software maker confirmed plans to cut about 10,000 positions.

"Today, we are making changes that will result in the reduction of our overall workforce by 10,000 jobs through the end of [the third quarter of fiscal year 2023]," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a blog post on Jan. 18. "This represents less than 5 percent of our total employee base, with some notifications happening today."

Now read:Microsoft confirms plans to lay off about 10,000 workers as tech companies cut back

Microsoft, he said, was aligning its cost structure with its revenue and with where the company sees customer demand. Nadella wrote that while customers had accelerated their digital spending during the pandemic, they are now looking to "optimize" their digital spending to do more with less. "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," he added.

The tech giant was taking a $1.2 billion charge in the second quarter related to severance costs, changes to its hardware portfolio and costs of lease consolidation as it created higher density across its workspaces.

Also see: More than 25,000 global tech workers laid off in the first weeks of 2023, says layoff tracking site

The layoffs did not come completely out of the blue. Earlier reports from Sky News and Bloomberg indicated that Microsoft was preparing to make cuts.

In the blog post, Nadella said that while Microsoft was eliminating roles in some areas, the company would continue to hire in key strategic areas. The CEO did not specify which areas will see hiring but did describe advances in artificial intelligence as "the next major wave of computing."

Coinbase

Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN)announced 950 job cuts in an attempt to cut costs.

"In 2022, the crypto market trended downwards along with the broader macroeconomy," said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, in a message to employees on Jan. 10. "We also saw the fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry, and there could still be further contagion."

Also read:Coinbase to cut 950 jobs and book charges of up to $163 million

The crypto exchange said it would book charges of about $149 million to $163 million for the cuts, divided between about $58 million to $68 million in cash charge relating to severance and $91 million to $95 million in stock-based compensation charges relating to the vesting of outstanding equity awards.

The job cuts followed the company's announcement in June that it would lay off 18% of its employees.

Cisco

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO)began previously announced layoffs, cutting nearly 700 jobs in Silicon Valley in December, according to filings with the state of California in January.

The layoffs spanned a number of departments at the networking giant and extend across various positions, including software and hardware engineering, program management, product design and marketing. According to the state filings, the number of employees at the company's San Jose, Calif., headquarters who were affected totaled 371, while 222 jobs were being cut in nearby Milpitas, and another 80 were being cut in Cisco's San Francisco office. The notices said employees were notified in early December and were given a choice of an effective termination date of either Feb. 1 or March 13.

In November, Cisco announced it was planning a "limited business restructuring" that would adjust the networking giant's real-estate portfolio and affect about 5% of its 80,000-strong global workforce, or some 4,000 people.

Also read:Cisco layoffs begin with hundreds of job cuts in California and more expected

"This is about rebalancing across the board," said Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren at the time, adding that as many jobs will be added as reduced.

"Our goal is to minimize the number of people who end up having to leave," Herren told MarketWatch. "We will match as many with new roles at the company as we can. This is not about reducing our workforce. In fact, we'll have roughly the same number of employees at the end of this fiscal year as we had when we started."

Salesforce

Salesforce Inc. (CRM) announced at the beginning of 2023 that it would lay off 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.

The San Francisco-based company announced the layoffs in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Jan. 4. In addition to the job cuts, Salesforce said it planned to exit some real estate and reduce office space.

The restructuring plan is intended to reduce operating costs, improve operating margins and continue advancing Salesforce's commitment to "profitable growth," the company said in the filing.

Salesforce estimated that it would incur approximately $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion in charges in connection with the restructuring plan, of which approximately $800 million to $1 billion was expected to be incurred in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.

Also read: Salesforce will lay off 10% of staff as part of restructuring

Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff said that the company grew too quickly for the current environment. "I've been thinking a lot about how we came to this moment," he wrote in a letter to employees that was also filed with the SEC. "As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we're now facing, and I take responsibility for that."

In 2022, Salesforce laid off hundreds of employees from its sales team, according to news reports, as the tech sector as a whole wrestled with a challenging economic environment. "Our sales performance process drives accountability," said a Salesforce spokesperson in a statement emailed to MarketWatch in November. "Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition."

As of February 2022, the company, which provides customer-relationship-management software, had over 78,000 employees globally.

HP

In November, HP Inc. (HPQ) executives announced plans to cut up to 10% of the company's workforce amid what CEO Enrique Lores described as "a volatile macro environment and softening demand in the second half, with a slowdown on the commercial side."

"Companies are delaying their refresh [sales] cycle," Lores told MarketWatch in an interview ahead of the public release of the company's fourth-quarter results.

Now read: HP plans to cut up to 10% of workforce as earnings forecast comes up short

HP is launching a three-year workforce-reduction plan meant to shed 4,000 to 6,000 jobs, according to Lores, with more than half of the roughly $1 billion in restructuring costs expected to be realized in the new fiscal year.

Roku

Roku Inc. (ROKU)announced in November that it would cut about 5% of its workforce amid a challenging advertising landscape.

"Due to the current economic conditions in our industry, we have made the difficult decision to reduce Roku's headcount expenses by a projected 5%, to slow down our [operating-expense] growth rate," the company said in a brief statement, noting that about 200 positions in the U.S. would be affected. "Taking these actions now will allow us to focus our investments on key strategic priorities to drive future growth and enhance our leadership position," the statement said.

Related: Roku to cut 5% of staff in latest signal of challenging times for ad industry

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roku said it anticipated charges of about $28 million to $31 million related to the job cuts, mainly stemming from severance payments, notice pay, employee benefits and other costs. The company expected to take the bulk of those charges in the fourth quarter of 2022. Implementation of the workforce reductions will be mostly complete by the end of the first quarter of 2023, it said.

Kaltura

Video software company Kaltura Inc. (KLTR) said Jan. 4 it was planning to reduce its workforce by about 11%.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kaltura said its reorganization plan aimed to increase efficiency and productivity in response to the current macroeconomic climate. "The plan's main objectives are to position the company for lower demand, spend, and available budgets across the company's market segments, align the company's business strategy in light of these market conditions and support the company's growth initiatives and return path to profitability," it said.

Now read: Video software company Kaltura to cut 11% of work force in restructuring

On an annualized basis, the total cost reduction from Kaltura's downsizing was expected to be approximately $16 million.

The New York-based company said it would initially book pretax charges of approximately $1 million, primarily for severance and related costs, all of which were expected to be expensed in the first quarter of 2023. The reorganization plan was expected to be "substantially completed" in the first half of 2023, according to the SEC filing.

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03-27-23 0916ET

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