Tech layoffs roll on as LinkedIn makes cuts

By James Rogers

More than 191,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the beginning of 2023

LinkedIn is the latest tech company in the layoffs spotlight, joining Meta, Amazon, Dropbox, Electronic Arts, Palantir Technologies, Twilio, Zoom, eBay, Okta, Splunk, PayPal, IBM, SAP, Spotify, Alphabet, Intel, Microsoft, Coinbase, Cisco, and Salesforce.

More than 191,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the website Layoffs.fyi.

Here's a look at the list of big names across a number of sectors that have been cutting back their workforces.

LinkedIn

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)-owned LinkedIn has announced plans to cut its workforce by more than 700 employees. The company is also getting rid of its local jobs app in China. "As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees," wrote LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, in an email to the company's employees that was also posted on the company's website.

"We'll focus our China strategy on assisting companies operating in China to hire, market, and train abroad," he added. "This will involve maintaining our Talent, Marketing, and Learning businesses, while phasing out InCareer, our local jobs app in China, by August 9, 2023."

The CEO explained that, while InCareer has experienced some success in China, it "also encountered fierce competition and a challenging macroeconomic climate."

Related: LinkedIn to lay off 700 workers and shut down its China app

LinkedIn has more than 19,000 employees, according to its website.

Meta

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. (META) began more layoffs in late April, cutting technical positions, according to LinkedIn posts. Meta was in the midst of cutting 21,000 jobs.

"So far we've gone through two of the three waves of restructuring and layoffs that we had planned for this year -- in our recruiting and technical groups," said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg during a conference call to discuss the company's first-quarter results on April 26. "In May we're going to carry out our third wave across our business groups."

"This has been a difficult process," Zuckerberg added. "But after this is done, I think we're going to have a much more stable environment for employees."

Now read: Meta begins cutting technical jobs in latest round of layoffs

Meta CFO Susan Li said that Meta ended the first quarter with over 77,100 employees, down 11% from the fourth quarter. Substantially all of the employees affected by Meta's November layoff are no longer included in the company's reported headcount, she added. Employees affected by the layoffs announced in March were still included in the first-quarter headcount.

Zuckerberg has defined 2023 as a "year of efficiency" for Meta.

In November, Meta announced that it would cut 11,000 employees, or about 13% of its workforce, in the first layoffs in the company's 18-year history. Zuckerberg took responsibility for the cuts, admitting to having expanded the company too quickly amid a pandemic-fueled surge in revenue.

Now read: Facebook parent Meta begins mass layoffs of 11,000 workers as Mark Zuckerberg says, 'I take responsibility'

At the time, Zuckerberg wrote that while Meta would be making reductions in every area across both its Family of Apps and Reality Labs segments, some teams would be affected more than others. The cuts to Reality Labs are being closely watched for any potential impact on the company's metaverse strategy, which is handled within the segment.

Amazon

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) made layoffs in Amazon Web Services and in its human-resources department, the company said in late April. "As you know, we recently made the difficult decision to eliminate some roles across Amazon globally, including within AWS," said Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky in a message sent to employees at the time. Conversations with affected employees have started and notification messages have been sent to all affected employees in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica, he wrote. "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," he added.

In a message sent to employees in Amazon's People Experience and Technology unit, Beth Galetti, the company's senior vice president of PXT, said that additional roles were being eliminated within the PXT organization.

"Leaders across the company have worked closely with their teams to decide what investments they are going to make for the future, prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses," she wrote. "Given PXT's close partnership with the business, these shifts impact our OP2 plans as well." OP2 refers to the second phase of Amazon's operating plan, which concluded in March.

Related:Amazon's stock dips 1% as another 9,000 layoffs announced

These details have been communicated with affected PXT employees in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica, according to Galetti.

Amazon.com recently announced that it was eliminating another 9,000 jobs in addition to the 18,000 layoffs the company announced in January. In a March 20 memo to staff, Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy said the cuts would take place over the following few weeks and would primarily affect Amazon Web Services, People Experience and Technology Solutions, advertising and Twitch.

"This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term," he wrote.

"As our internal businesses evaluated what customers most care about, they made re-prioritization decisions that sometimes led to role reductions, sometimes led to moving people from one initiative to another, and sometimes led to new openings where we don't have the right skills match from our existing team members," he added. "This initially led us to eliminate 18,000 positions (which we shared in January); and, as we completed the second phase of our planning this month, it led us to these additional 9,000 role reductions."

In a blog post, Dan Clancy, CEO of Amazon's Twitch subsidiary, said that just over 400 people would be laid off from the live-streaming service.

Dropbox

Online-storage company Dropbox Inc. (DBX)announced plans to cut 16% of its workforce, or about 500 employees. "While our business is profitable, our growth has been slowing," Dropbox CEO Drew Houston said in a late-April letter to employees. "Part of this is due to the natural maturation of our existing businesses, but more recently, headwinds from the economic downturn have put pressure on our customers and, in turn, on our business."

FactSet data show that Dropbox's sales growth rate slowed to 7.7% in 2022, from 12.7% in 2021 and 15.2% in 2020.

Related: Dropbox to cut 16% of staff, citing slowing growth and a need for AI-focused talent

"Dropbox intends to strategically reinvest some savings from this reduction in force into future growth initiatives, and will continue to hire for roles critical to those initiatives," the company said in a filing.

The company expects to incur charges of approximately $37 million to $42 million in relation to the cuts, primarily consisting of cash expenditures for severance payments, employee benefits and related costs.

Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA)announced its intention to slash 6% of its workforce. The videogame publisher is looking to cut costs, according to a note sent to employees at the end of March by CEO Andrew Wilson.

Related:EA laying off 6% of staff in cost-cutting push for videogame publisher

"As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams," he wrote. "These decisions are expected to impact approximately six percent of our company's workforce."

According to EA's most recent 10-K annual filing, the company had 12,900 employees as of March 31, 2022.

Other companies making layoffs in 2023 include Roku Inc. Palantir Technologies Inc. (PLTR), Twilio Inc. (TWLO), Affirm Holdings Inc. (AFRM) Zoom Video Communications Inc. (ZM), eBay Inc. (EBAY), Dell Technologies Inc., (DELL) , Okta Inc. (OKTA), Splunk Inc. (SPLK), PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL), International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), SAP (SAP.XE), Lam Research Corp. (LRCX), Spotify Technology (SPOT), Google parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)(GOOGL), Intel Corp. (INTC), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Coinbase Global Inc. (COIN), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Salesforce Inc. (CRM), Kaltura Inc. (KLTR).

Additional reporting byTomi Kilgore, Mike Murphy, Anviksha Patel, Ciara Linnane, Levi Sumagaysay, Bill Peters, Jon Swartz and Emily Bary.

-James Rogers

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05-09-23 1316ET

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