Robinhood in the spotlight as tech layoffs roll on

By James Rogers

More than 210,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the beginning of 2023

Robinhood is the latest tech company in the layoffs spotlight, joining names like LinkedIn, Spotify, 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 210,000 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.

Robinhood

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that stock-trading app Robinhood Markets Inc. (HOOD) is laying off around 7% of its full-time staff, or about 150 people. "We're ensuring operational excellence in how we work together on an ongoing basis," a Robinhood spokesperson told MarketWatch. "In some cases, this may mean teams make changes based on volume, workload, org design and more."

Related: Robinhood is laying off around 7% of staff, WSJ reports

Oracle

Last week, Insider reported that Oracle Corp. (ORCL) has laid off hundreds of employees, cut back open positions and rescinded job offers at its health unit. MarketWatch has reached out to Oracle with a request for comment on this story.

Spotify

In early June, Spotify Technology SA (SPOT) announced plans to lay off approximately 200 people, or 2% of the company's workforce. In a post, Sahar Elhabashi, head of Spotify's Podcast Business, said that the company was expanding its partnership efforts with leading podcasters from across the globe with "a tailored approach" optimized for each show and creator. "This fundamental pivot from a more uniform proposition will allow us to support the creator community better," she added. "However, doing so requires adapting; over the past few months, our senior leadership team has worked closely with HR to determine the optimal organization for this next chapter."

Alibaba

Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s (9988.HK) cloud unit also started cutting 7% of staff, Barron's reported in late May, citing a source familiar with the matter. News of the job cuts was first reported by Bloomberg.

Meta

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. (META) also had its latest round of layoffs in late May, according to reports, marking the tech giant's third round of cuts this year. Meta declined to comment in response to a request from MarketWatch for confirmation of the latest layoffs. The company's second round of layoffs in April cut technical positions, according to LinkedIn posts. Meta is in the midst of cutting 21,000 jobs in 2023 as part of what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described as a "year of efficiency" for the company.

"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," Zuckerberg said during an April 26 conference call to discuss the company's first-quarter results.

Related: Oracle makes health unit layoffs, report says

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.

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.

LinkedIn has more than 20,000 employees, according to its website.

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.

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

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.

In March Amazon.com announced that it was eliminating another 9,000 jobs in addition to the 18,000 layoffs the company announced in January. In a 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.

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."

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

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.

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

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

"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.

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

Other companies making layoffs in 2023 include Roku Inc. (ROKU), 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) and Kaltura Inc. (KLTR).

Tomi Kilgore, Mike Murphy, Anviksha Patel, Ciara Linnane, Levi Sumagaysay, Bill Peters, Jon Swartz and Emily Bary contributed.

-James Rogers

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06-27-23 0934ET

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