The technology industry continues to experience a wave of layoffs as 2024 begins. Over 34,000 employees have already lost their jobs across major companies like Google, Amazon, and more than 100 other tech firms in the first few weeks of 2024, according to Layoffs.fyi, a tech layoffs tracker.
This highlights the ongoing economic challenges faced by the once unassailable tech sector, which saw giants like Meta, Twitter, and Cisco significantly trim their workforces last year. With more names being added to the list of tech companies enacting substantial job cuts, it seems like the employment crisis may persist throughout 2024 if market conditions don’t improve.
Alphabet’s Google started the year by laying off several hundred employees across divisions, including engineering, AI research, hardware, and product development. Additionally, Google’s advertising sales team saw significant cuts as the company continued “organizational changes” into 2024. CEO Sundar Pichai stated that layoffs will impact more roles intended to increase efficiency.
Microsoft also contributed heavily to tech workforce cuts, eliminating 1,900 jobs primarily from its video game segment following the Activision Blizzard acquisition. This represents nearly 8% of Microsoft’s total gaming division. Leadership positions were impacted, too, with the Blizzard president and chief design officer departing the company.
Other major gaming companies, such as Unity and Riot Games, have also made similar moves, with workforce reductions of 25% and 11%, respectively. These companies are focusing their resources on their core offerings.
Amazon’s layoffs spanned many business units, including Audible, Prime Video, Twitch, and Buy with Prime teams. Audible cut 5% of staff, citing a “challenging landscape,” while Twitch slimmed its workforce by 35% or roughly 500 employees amid restructuring. Last week, the e-commerce giant slashed the workforce in its medical unit, cutting “few hundred” roles.
Retail and food delivery giants eBay, Flipkart, and Swiggy have also made some job cuts, but they have been more modest, with reductions under 10%. While there are various reasons for these cuts, such as realigning priorities or reducing expenses, the primary motivation seems to be controlling pandemic-era overstaffing and preparing for potential economic sluggishness. Licious, a meat delivery company, earlier this month, laid off 80 employees (3% of its workforce) for an “operational reset” to refocus on growth.
TikTok has reduced its workforce, and Snap has also announced that it will lay off about 528 employees, which is around 10% of its global workforce. The aim of Snap’s restructuring is to concentrate on executing its top priorities and invest incrementally to support its growth in the future.
Grammarly and DocuSign recently announced layoffs to improve their efficiency. Grammarly cut 23% of its workforce, around 230 jobs, due to its focus on AI-enabled workplaces. DocuSign laid off around 440 employees, 6% of its workforce, to improve financial and operational efficiency.
Experts believe that many companies over-hired during the abnormal surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now rightsizing bloated teams. The ongoing wave of layoffs in the technology industry reflects necessary rebalancing rather than decline. However, critical emerging fields like artificial intelligence continue to drive recruitment amidst job cuts elsewhere.
Major tech firms such as Google, Microsoft, and others are aggressively expanding in AI, machine learning, and data science. These companies are reshuffling resources and seeking trained specialists to staff critical roles in generative AI, neural networks, and robotics.
Demand for these skills remains sky-high, with over 33,000 AI-related job postings in January 2023 alone, even as overall economic uncertainty prompted other reductions. For professionals skilled in the technologies shaping the future, new opportunities await organizations racing to lead the AI revolution. Though downsizing generates headlines, the tech sector continues transforming and growing by investing in positional talent.
This highlights the ongoing economic challenges faced by the once unassailable tech sector, which saw giants like Meta, Twitter, and Cisco significantly trim their workforces last year. With more names being added to the list of tech companies enacting substantial job cuts, it seems like the employment crisis may persist throughout 2024 if market conditions don’t improve.
Alphabet’s Google started the year by laying off several hundred employees across divisions, including engineering, AI research, hardware, and product development. Additionally, Google’s advertising sales team saw significant cuts as the company continued “organizational changes” into 2024. CEO Sundar Pichai stated that layoffs will impact more roles intended to increase efficiency.
Microsoft also contributed heavily to tech workforce cuts, eliminating 1,900 jobs primarily from its video game segment following the Activision Blizzard acquisition. This represents nearly 8% of Microsoft’s total gaming division. Leadership positions were impacted, too, with the Blizzard president and chief design officer departing the company.
Other major gaming companies, such as Unity and Riot Games, have also made similar moves, with workforce reductions of 25% and 11%, respectively. These companies are focusing their resources on their core offerings.
Amazon’s layoffs spanned many business units, including Audible, Prime Video, Twitch, and Buy with Prime teams. Audible cut 5% of staff, citing a “challenging landscape,” while Twitch slimmed its workforce by 35% or roughly 500 employees amid restructuring. Last week, the e-commerce giant slashed the workforce in its medical unit, cutting “few hundred” roles.
Retail and food delivery giants eBay, Flipkart, and Swiggy have also made some job cuts, but they have been more modest, with reductions under 10%. While there are various reasons for these cuts, such as realigning priorities or reducing expenses, the primary motivation seems to be controlling pandemic-era overstaffing and preparing for potential economic sluggishness. Licious, a meat delivery company, earlier this month, laid off 80 employees (3% of its workforce) for an “operational reset” to refocus on growth.
TikTok has reduced its workforce, and Snap has also announced that it will lay off about 528 employees, which is around 10% of its global workforce. The aim of Snap’s restructuring is to concentrate on executing its top priorities and invest incrementally to support its growth in the future.
Grammarly and DocuSign recently announced layoffs to improve their efficiency. Grammarly cut 23% of its workforce, around 230 jobs, due to its focus on AI-enabled workplaces. DocuSign laid off around 440 employees, 6% of its workforce, to improve financial and operational efficiency.
Experts believe that many companies over-hired during the abnormal surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and are now rightsizing bloated teams. The ongoing wave of layoffs in the technology industry reflects necessary rebalancing rather than decline. However, critical emerging fields like artificial intelligence continue to drive recruitment amidst job cuts elsewhere.
Major tech firms such as Google, Microsoft, and others are aggressively expanding in AI, machine learning, and data science. These companies are reshuffling resources and seeking trained specialists to staff critical roles in generative AI, neural networks, and robotics.
Demand for these skills remains sky-high, with over 33,000 AI-related job postings in January 2023 alone, even as overall economic uncertainty prompted other reductions. For professionals skilled in the technologies shaping the future, new opportunities await organizations racing to lead the AI revolution. Though downsizing generates headlines, the tech sector continues transforming and growing by investing in positional talent.