Splunk, together with Google, Intel, and Microsoft, joins the massive big tech lay-off

Since 2023, 77,000 employees have been laid off in the technology sector around the world.

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A number of major companies have announced layoffs in recent months, including PayPal, IBM, SAP, Spotify, Alphabet's Google parent company Alphabet, Intel, Microsoft, Coinbase, Cisco, Amazon, Salesforce, HP, Beyond Meat, Meta, and Twitter.

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According to data compiled by the website Layoffs. More than 77,000 employees in the global technology sector have been laid off in the first few weeks of 2023 alone.

Check out this list of big names cutting back their workforces across a variety of industries.

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Splunk

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It is expected that around 325 SPLK employees will be laid off amid software industry cutbacks.

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The cuts will be mostly in North America, Splunk CEO Gary Steele wrote to employees. As part of a broader set of proactive organizational and strategic changes, he wrote, “This decision is another step in ensuring Splunk balances growth with profitability in these uncertain times and drives success over the long run through optimizing processes, cost structures, and how we operate globally.

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A new round of software cuts signals Splunk's 4% staff layoffs

Splunk estimates that its reorganization plan will cost it approximately $28 million in charges and cash outlays. The company estimates the plan will be completed in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2024, and the associated charges and expenses will be booked "substantially all" by then.

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PayPal

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As part of its layoff program, PYPL plans to cut 7,000 full-time employees worldwide, or approximately 2,000 full-timers. Employees were notified of the layoffs in an email from CEO Dan Schulman. In his letter, he wrote that some organizations would be affected more than others by these reductions in the coming weeks.

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Schulman said in an email that the company has made substantial progress in right-sizing its cost structure and focusing its resources on its core strategic priorities. In order to succeed, we need to continue to evolve along with our customers, our industry, and our competitive environment."

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Amanda Miller, the spokeswoman for PayPal, told MarketWatch the company will keep hiring "strategically" this year.

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At least $1.3 billion in cost savings is one of PayPal's goals during 2023, according to an announcement made in August.

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IBM

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In addition to these reductions, IBM will reduce its workforce by 1% to 1.5%. In an interview with Bloomberg, IBM Chief Financial Officer James Kavanaugh said the cuts will affect about 3,900 employees.

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There was no mention of IBM's layoffs during its fourth-quarter conference call. There was a $300 million charge in the first quarter as a result of IBM's Watson Health spin-off and sale.

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SAP

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It is estimated that SAP will cut almost 3,000 jobs as part of its restructuring efforts. As part of its fourth-quarter earnings release, the business-software maker announced that it will undergo an "accelerated cloud transformation" and a "targeted restructuring" in 2023.

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Around 2,800 employees will be affected by the restructuring program. According to the company's annual report, the company had 111,961 employees worldwide as of 2022.

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Lam Research

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Lam Research Corp. is a supplier of silicon foundry equipment. By the end of March, LRCX will cut 1,300 jobs or 7% of its global workforce. Separately, Lam Research laid off 700 people in December as part of its "temporary workforce."

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Lam Research announced the cuts in its December 22nd earnings report. 

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Tim Archer, CEO of Applied Materials described the company's steps to lower its cost structure and drive efficiencies across its global footprint as proactive measures in response to the decline in wafer fabrication equipment spending forecasted for the calendar year 2023. Lam plans to capitalize on long-term growth prospects in the semiconductor industry by accelerating our strategic priorities."

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Spotify

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Spotify Technology SPOT has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to cut around 588 jobs or about 6% of its workforce.

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As reported originally by TradeAlgo, the streaming music service was planning to reduce its workforce. A total of 9,808 employees worked for Spotify as of the end of the third quarter.

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Severance-related charges are estimated to cost the Stockholm-based firm between €35 million and €45 million.

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Spotify cut jobs last year due to a slowdown in hiring. In June, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek informed employees that the company will reduce hiring by 25%, according to Bloomberg and CNBC. A total of 38 employees were laid off at Spotify's Gimlet and Parcast podcast units in October.

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Podcasts have weighed heavily on Spotify's margins in recent years. Though Ek predicted a meaningful increase in profitability in the next two years, podcast spending has yet to deliver profits.

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A Spotify filing said Dawn Ostroff, the company's chief content and advertising business officer, will leave the company as part of a reorganization.

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Google

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The parent company of Google, Alphabet Inc., GOOGLE, has announced that it plans to eliminate approximately 12,000 jobs worldwide. The layoffs were described by Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in a blog post as an "adversary decision."

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I take full responsibility for the decisions that led to these changes, as these changes will affect the lives of Googlers," he said.

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There have been layoffs at the company in the past, including those at Microsoft Corp. MSFT and Meta Platforms Inc. As a result of the pandemic era, Alphabet had to expand to meet demand, but it faces a new economic environment now, said Pichai. There have been periods of dramatic growth over the last two years. This growth was matched and fuelled by hiring for a different economic reality than what we face today."

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Almost 187,000 people worked for Alphabet as of September 2022, a significant increase from 164,000 at March's end.

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We're bound to experience difficult economic cycles as a company almost 25 years old," Pichai said. "Now is a critical time for sharpening our focus, reengineering our cost base, and directing talent and capital to our top priorities."

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According to Pichai, artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in society. As a result of our restrictions in some areas, we can make big bets in other areas, he added. We have made groundbreaking advances across our businesses and throughout the industry since we became AI-first years ago."

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Users, developers, and businesses can expect "some entirely new experiences" from the company, according to the CEO. We are ready to approach AI boldly and responsibly and have a substantial opportunity ahead of us with our products using AI.

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Google was reportedly considering cutting 10,000 jobs according to The Information last year. An employee ranking system may be used to eliminate "poor-performing" employees at the bottom of the list, according to the report.

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A Google spokesperson told MarketWatch at the time that Googler Reviews and Development (GRAD) was launched earlier this year to help employees develop, coach, learn, and progress throughout the year. As a result of the new system, employees are provided with regular feedback and clear expectations.

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Intel

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As a result, Silicon Valley jobs are being cut by hundreds at INTC. These layoffs are in addition to those announced late last year.

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201 jobs are being cut at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., per California's Employment Development Department filings. In late December, Intel announced 90 job cuts and announced that some manufacturing employees had been placed on unpaid leave.

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At a campus dedicated to research and development in Folsom, Calif. The tech giant is also cutting 111 jobs. A total of 176 layoffs have now taken place as of Jan. 31, and an additional 167 job cuts have been made as of March 15.

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Future filings from Intel are expected to detail more layoffs.

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In its third-quarter earnings report in October, Intel announced plans to cut jobs. Chipmaker said it would reduce costs by $3 billion in 2023. During the third-quarter conference call with analysts, Pat Gelsinger said the company would optimize its headcount.

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In 2021, the chipmaker employed more than 121,000 people worldwide.

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Microsoft

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Microsoft Corp. confirmed plans to lay off about 10,000 workers, joining a number of other tech giants in the layoff spotlight.

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Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, announced in a blog post on Jan. 18 that the company is making changes that will reduce its workforce by 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of the fiscal year 2023. Approximately 5 percent of our employees are affected by this, with some notifications occurring today.

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As a result, Microsoft's cost structure is aligned with revenue and customer demand, he said. During the pandemic, customers spent more on digital, but today they're trying to "optimize" that spending so they can accomplish more with less. Additionally, organizations across industries and geographies are exercising caution due to the fact that some parts of the world are experiencing a recession, while others are anticipating one.

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Due to higher density across its workspaces, the tech giant is taking a $1.2 billion charge in the second quarter related to severance costs, changes to its hardware portfolio, and lease consolidation costs.

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A layoff tracking site reports that more than 25,000 global tech workers were laid off in the first weeks of 2023

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There was no sudden onset of layoffs. Bloomberg and Sky News reported earlier this week that Microsoft was preparing to cut jobs.

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Microsoft will continue to hire in key strategic areas despite eliminating roles in some areas, Nadella wrote in his blog post. In describing artificial intelligence as the "next major wave of computing," the CEO did not specify which areas will see hiring.

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Coinbase

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Coinbase Global Inc. In an effort to cut costs, Coin announced the elimination of 950 jobs.

In a message to employees on Jan. 10, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the crypto market trended downward along with the broader macroeconomy. There were also unscrupulous actors in the industry who caused havoc, and there may still be contagion."

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As a result of the cuts, the crypto exchange plans to charge $149 million to $163 million, divided into a cash charge of $58 million to $68 million for severance and a stock-based compensation charge of $91 million to $95 million for stock-based compensation. 

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This is the second round of job cuts for the company, following the announcement in June that 18% of its employees would be laid off.

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Cisco

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As part of previously announced layoffs, CSCO has begun laying off nearly 700 workers in Silicon Valley in December, according to California state filings.

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The layoffs include software and hardware engineering, product design, program management, and marketing, among other departments at the networking giant. According to the state filings, Cisco's San Jose headquarters employs 371 workers affected, while Milpitas will lose 222 jobs and San Francisco will lose 80. Early December notices informed employees they would be terminated on Feb. 1 or March 13 and gave them a choice of the date.

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The networking giant announced in November it was planning a "limited business restructuring" that affects about 5% of its global workforce of 80,000, or approximately 4,000 people.

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Cisco Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren said at the time that the company would rebalance across the board and that as many jobs would be added as they would be reduced.

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MarketWatch quotes Herren as saying, "We aim to minimize the number of people who have to leave." The company will find them new positions as soon as possible. Our workforce is not being reduced. At the end of this fiscal year, we are expected to have roughly the same number of employees as we did when we first started."

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Amazon

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Amazon.com Inc. has confirmed the cutting of more than 18,000 jobs in the New Year, more than was originally anticipated. The company plans to eliminate just over 18,000 roles between the reductions announced in November and the ones revealed today, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a letter to employees on Jan. 4. In general, Amazon Stores and PXT [People Experience and Technology Solutions] are impacted by the elimination of many roles.

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As for Amazon's ability to weather uncertain and difficult economies in the past, Jassy said the company will do so in the future as well. In this period when we're not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles, I'm optimistic that we'll remain inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in pursuit of our long-term opportunities."

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Here's what you need to know: Amazon is laying off more than 18,000 employees. As Morgan Stanley seeks to tighten things up even further, the tech industry must do the same.

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In addition to New York, California, and Amazon's home state of Washington, the company filed notices of more than 3,000 job cuts.

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It was announced last year that the e-commerce giant would lay off workers in its devices and services division. Approximately 10,000 jobs could be cut by Amazon, according to The Wall Street Journal at the time.

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Amazon and other tech companies should continue to rein in costs, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.

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Salesforce

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Salesforce Inc. is restructuring its workforce and laying off 10%.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Salesforce announced the layoffs on Jan. 4. Besides the layoffs, Salesforce will reduce office space and exit some properties.

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According to Salesforce, the restructuring plan aims to reduce operating costs, improve operating margins, and promote "profitable growth."

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Approximately $800 million to $1 billion of the charges will be incurred during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 as a result of the restructuring plan. Salesforce estimates that the restructuring plan will cost roughly $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion in charges.

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In a letter to employees filed with the SEC, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said most of the layoffs would take place in the next few weeks.

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As a result of the company's rapid growth, Salesforce's chief executive said that the company doesn't fit into the current market. In his letter, he wrote, "I've been thinking a lot about how we got to where we are now." Due to the pandemic, we hired too many people, which led to the recession we're experiencing today.

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A challenging economic environment forced Salesforce to lay off hundreds of salespeople last year, according to news reports. According to a Salesforce spokesperson, "Our sales performance process drives accountability." "Unfortunately, some employees leave the company, and we assist them."

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Globally, the company employs over 78,000 people, providing customer-relationship-management software.

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HP

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As of November 1, HP Inc. has disclosed plans to lay off up to 10% of its workforce. According to CEO Enrique Lores, "the macro environment is unpredictable, and demand is softening in the second half, with slowdowns on the commercial side."

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Lores told MarketWatch in an interview before the company's fourth-quarter results were released: "Companies are delaying their refresh [sales] cycle."

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Approximately half of HP's roughly $1 billion in restructuring costs are expected to be realized in the fiscal year 2010, according to Lores, who has announced a three-year workforce reduction plan. 

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Roku

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It was announced in November that in the face of challenging advertising conditions, ROKU would cut about 5% of its workforce.

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Taking into account the current economic conditions in our industry, Roku has decided to reduce its headcount expenses by 5%, in an effort to slow down its [operating-expense] growth rate. The company announced in a brief statement that about 200 jobs would be eliminated in the U.S. By making these cuts, we will be able to focus our investments on key strategic priorities to enhance our leadership position.

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According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roku anticipates hiring cuts will cost between $28 million and $31 million in severance payments, notice pay, employee benefits, and other costs. Most of those charges are expected to be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2022. By the end of the first quarter of 2023, most of the workforce reductions will have been completed.

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Kaltura

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As part of its ongoing restructuring plan, Kaltura Inc. KLTR announced in January that it would reduce its workforce by about 11% over the next year.

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In response to the current macroeconomic climate, Kaltura filed a reorganization plan with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

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The plan's main objectives include positioning the company to accommodate lower demand, spending, and budgets across its market segments, aligning the company's business strategy with these market conditions, and supporting the company's growth initiatives and return path to profitability, according to the report.

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In a restructuring plan, video software company Kaltura will cut 11% of its workforce

Approximately $16 million will be saved annually as a result of Kaltura's downsizing.

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An initial pretax charge of approximately $1 million will be incurred by the New York-based company, primarily for severance and related costs, which will be expensed in the first quarter of 2023. It is expected that the reorganization plan will be substantially completed by the first half of 2023, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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RingCentral

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RingCentral Inc. enlisted RNG among the tech companies making layoffs in November when it announced a 10% workforce reduction as part of an overall cost-cutting program. As a result of the layoffs and RingCentral's earnings beating analysts' expectations, the cloud-based communications company's stock jumped.

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The equity research firm New Constructs added RingCentral to its list of "zombie" stocks in October.

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The equity research firm New Constructs listed RingCentral as a zombie stock in its recent report

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A company called New Constructs, which parses corporate filings and uses natural language processing to predict earnings, described RingCentral as a "cash incinerator" whose stock price may drop to $0.

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Redfin

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A new round of layoffs was announced by Redfin RDFN in November, with CEO Glenn Kelman saying the company would be laying off 13% of its employees. As part of Redfin's announcement, it also closed RedfinNow, a service that resold homes the brokerage bought for cash to buyers.

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In an email to staff, Kelman predicted that the housing market would shrink in 2023. Despite the fact that layoffs are awful, there is no way to avoid them.

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As the housing market slows down, Redfin lays off 13% of its staff

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As a result of "years" of "fewer home sales," Redfin laid off 8% of its staff in June.

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Beyond Meat

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A new round of job cuts was announced by Beyond Meat Inc. BYND in October, reducing its global workforce by about 19%. As a result of increased competition and inflation pressures, the company also issued a revenue warning. According to Beyond Meat, the job cuts will result in a one-time cash charge of roughly $4 million in the third quarter.

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As a result of the cuts, August's workforce was reduced by 4%.

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Pressure continues to mount on the plant-based food company. According to Beyond Meat, its third-quarter revenue dropped dramatically, losses escalated, and revenue guidance was tepid.

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Meta

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A month later, Meta META, the company that owns Facebook, announced that it would lay off 11,000 employees, or 13% of its workforce in the first layoffs in its 18-year history. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, has admitted to expanding the company too quickly during a pandemic-driven revenue surge.

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He wrote in a post on the company's public newsroom that not only has online commerce returned to previous trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ad signal loss have contributed to lower revenue than expected. It was my fault that I got this wrong, and I take full responsibility for it."

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According to Zuckerberg, some teams would be affected more than others by the reductions Meta would make across both its Family of Apps and Reality Labs segments. The company's metaverse strategy, which is handled within Reality Labs, will be closely monitored as a result of the cuts to Reality Labs.

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Twitter

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About half of Twitter's 7,500 employees were laid off following Meta's job cuts. Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in late October and immediately implemented a cost-cutting program at the unprofitable company.

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A class-action lawsuit was filed against Twitter before the layoffs hit.

The Twitter 'official' label was scrapped just hours after the company's launch by Musk.

During the postelection period, the cuts, which came just before the midterm elections, raised concerns about the microblogging site's ability to combat misinformation.

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According to MarketWatch, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu will investigate Twitter's loss of janitors' jobs.

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Lyft

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It was announced in November that about 683 employees would lose their jobs because of LYFT's planned layoffs of 13%. As they prepare for the new year and anticipate a possible recession, the ride-hailing company's executives described the move as proactive.

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Here's what you need to know: Lyft announces another round of layoffs, but maintains financial guidance

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In September, a hiring freeze was also implemented through the end of the year following 60 job cuts in July. Nearly 1,000 Lyft employees were laid off and another 288 were furloughed in April 2020 during the early stages of the pandemic.

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Snap

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Layoffs were confirmed by some companies earlier this year. Snap Inc. announced its earnings in August. The social-media company announced job cuts as part of a broader strategic reprioritization aimed at cutting costs and increasing profit and free cash flow. Approximately 20% of the company's employees will be laid off.

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Depending on the level of prioritization and investment needed to execute our strategic priorities, the scale of these changes may vary between teams, said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. It is our intention to invest in our long-term future and reaccelerate our revenue growth while reducing the risk of needing to do this again.

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Snap had over 6,400 employees before the job cuts, according to The Verge.

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Robinhood

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Robinhood Markets Inc. also launched in August. A 23% reduction in HOOD's workforce is planned. A weaker economic environment and depressed trading activity were cited as reasons for the company's insolvency.

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Approximately 9% of Robinhood's workforce was cut in April. Vlad Tenev, the company's CEO at the time, wrote in a blog post that nearly 3,800 people worked for the company at the start of 2020.

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Coinbase

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It was announced in July that Coinbase Global Inc. Having just extended a hiring freeze and rescinded some job offers, COIN plans to lay off 18% of its employees. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong Engineering, announced the decision in a blog post.

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In March 2022, there were 4,948 employees at the crypto exchange, up from 1,250 at the beginning of 2021. Armstrong said the company was growing too quickly and that he was the CEO.

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Shopify

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Announcing plans to lay off 10% of its staff, SHOP cited an evolving business landscape as the reason for the layoffs. According to Shopify's Chief Executive Tobi Lütke, the pandemic had led Shopify to bet that e-commerce would permanently overtake physical retail as a result of the pandemic. "It is now clear that the gamble did not pay off," he wrote. As a result, the mix has reverted roughly to where it should be at this point based on pre-COVID data.

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Adobe

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Adobe Inc. A TradeAlgo report indicates that ADBE is cutting 100 jobs, mostly in sales.

According to Adobe, a small number of specific roles were removed in order to balance resources against top priorities as part of routine business prioritization.

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According to Adobe, it is still hiring for critical roles across the company and not doing company-wide layoffs. In order to continue driving strong growth, Adobe is making investments today to drive innovation, expand its product portfolio, and serve a growing number of customers. 

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Over 28,000 employees work for the company worldwide.

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GameStop

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It's no secret that video game retailer GameStop Corp. has been making cuts. Cuts have also been made by GME.

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GameStop CEO Matt Furlong described reductions in headcount during the back half of 2022 during a conference call about the company's third-quarter results. "Now we know how much money is needed to pursue opportunities in gaming," he said.