When much of human activity moved online during the height of the pandemic, tech companies were thriving. Call it the COVID tech bubble. Now we’ve hit the COVID tech bust.

By the second half of 2022, tech companies had initiated significant layoffs -- something that had followed an extended period of frenzied tech hiring and attention to employee experience. Standard explanations for the cuts were that companies hired too many during the pandemic and they were looking at the specter of a recession in the months ahead. It sounds a lot like the dot-com boom and bust of yore. Not all companies are impacted equally. It’s the ones that hired at an accelerated rate during the boom that seem to be hitting the brakes right now.

At the same time, IT pros with cybersecurity, cloud, and data analytics/machine learning skills have remained in high demand so far.

In this space, InformationWeek will document some of the more significant layoffs, updated regularly. Be sure to check back.

Here's a look at the big tech layoffs so far:

Amazon, March 20, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 9,000 people.

Amazon's earlier round of layoffs began in November 2022 and trickled into January of this year, with 18,000 employees being notified of the restructure. Those impacted were devices, human resources, recruiting and retail departments. Today, CEO Andy Jassy shared a memo to employees announcing 9,000 additional layoffs that will come to fruition over the next few weeks. This round of cuts will primarily impact Amazon’s advertising, cloud computing, human resources, and Twitch livestreaming businesses. According to CNBC, "Amazon is undergoing the largest layoffs in company history after it went on a hiring spree during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s global workforce swelled to more than 1.6 million by the end of 2021, up from 798,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019."

Meta, March 14, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 10,000 people, 13% of workforce.

Meta's CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that it will layoff about 13% of its workforce in the latest restructure move he's calling a "year of efficiency". This follows November's 13% job reduction at the company that has been reeling from over-acquiring and hiring within the industry. Meta also plans to close almost 5,000 job postings that have yet to be filled, detailed by Zuckerberg in the memo. The layoffs will affect its recruiting team this week, with a restructuring of its tech and business groups to come in April and May. According to the New York Times, "Meta is dealing with many challenges these days. It is grappling not only with a digital advertising slowdown but also with Apple’s privacy changes to its mobile operating system, which have restricted Meta’s ability to collect data on iPhone users to help target ads."

GoTo Group, March 10, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 600 people.

Indonesia's biggest tech firm PT Goto Gojek Tokopedia announced another round of layoffs aimed at streamlining the organization and boosting the company's profitability according to Reuters. Becoming more "agile" and maintaining growth amid challenging global economic conditions are the major focus moving forward.

Xero, March 9, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 800 people, 15% of workforce.

CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy's memo to employees said the cuts were part of a plan to stream line Xero's operations, realign the business and provide a better balance of growth and profitability according to Stuff. The impact of the restructure will be felt most by production, marketing, strategy and talent teams.

Atlassian, March 6, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 500 people, 5% of workforce.

According to a blog post written by Atlassian's co-founders and co-CEOs Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, the cuts signal a greater focus on key priorities such as IT service management and helping customers move workloads from on-premises data centers to the cloud, and thus has less to do with finances compared to competitors. Layoffs won't be evenly distributed across the company, with the most impacted teams including Talent Acquisition, Program Management, and Research & Insights.

SiriusXM, March 6, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 475 people, 8% of workforce.

Every department at SiriusXM will be impacted from the layoffs announced by CEO Jennifer Witz according to Variety. The move comes in an effort to sustain company profitability. "We are entering into a new phase for our company. The investments we are making in the business this year, coupled with today’s uncertain economic environment, require us to think differently about how our organization is structured," Witz said in the layoff memo to employees.

Thoughtworks, March 1, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 500 people, 4% of workforce.

The software consultancy firm laid off 500 employees this week. “We confirm that we have made the difficult decision to reduce our workforce by about four percent globally,” Thoughtworks global public relations head Linda Horiuchi said in a statement emailed to TechCrunch.

Twitter, Feb. 25, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 200 people, 10% of workforce.

Twitter laid off 200 employees, with many discovering that they were logged out of their corporate email accounts and laptops — the first hint that layoffs had begun, according to the New York Times. Those impacted are product managers, data scientists and engineers specializing in machine learning and site reliability, enabling Twitter’s various features online. After acquiring the social media platform in October, Elon Musk has steadily trimmed its work force from about 7,500 employees as he has sought to reduce costs.

Ericsson, Feb. 24, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 8,500 people, 8% of workforce.

In a memo to employees, the Swedish company will layoff 8,500 employees globally as part of its plan to cut costs, as reported by Reuters. “The way headcount reductions will be managed will differ depending on local country practice,” said a company spokesperson in Friday's statement. Ericsson said it expects to start seeing the effect of its cost savings in the second quarter of this year.

Ericsson, Feb. 20, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,400 people.

Telecoms gear maker Ericsson will slash 1,400 jobs in Sweden to prioritize global cost reductions, announced on Monday, according to Reuters. This news follows a December announcement to trim costs by 9 billion crowns ($880 million) by the end of 2023 as demand slows in some markets, including North America. Sources close to the matter told Reuters that further job cuts are expected in other countries that will impact thousands.

DocuSign, Feb. 16, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 680 people, 10% of workforce.

The e-signature software company recently downsized their workforce in September by 9%, followed by an additional cut of 10% announced today. The restructuring plan arrives with the hope to support growth, scale, and profitability objectives, which will heavily impact DocuSign's worldwide field organization. “This action allows us to reshape the company to more effectively position us for profitable growth, while freeing up resources for investments,” a DocuSign spokesperson told CNBC.

Twilio, Feb. 13, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,500 people, 17% of workforce.

After already laying off 11% of their workforce in September, Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson announced today that even more layoffs were coming. "As we’ve refined our strategy over the past several months, it's become apparent we need significant structural changes to better execute our strategy. This is because the two parts of our business – communications and software – are at different lifecycle stages and have different operating needs," Lawson said in a company blog post.

Yahoo, Feb. 9, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,600 people, 20% of workforce.

The days of Yahoo jockeying for digital advertising dominance with Google and Meta are coming to an end. The announcement was reported by Axios after speaking with executives, which detailed plans to lay off more than 20% of its total workforce. With a major restructuring of its ad tech unit ahead, CEO Jim Lanzone stressed that the layoffs are not attributable to financial challenges, but rather, strategic changes to the company's Yahoo for Business advertising unit, which is not profitable, according to Axios.

Affirm, Feb. 8, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 500 people, 19% of workforce.

CEO and founder Max Levchin wrote, “The root cause of where we are today is that I acted too slowly as these macroeconomic changes unfolded,” in a now-public message to employees, according to CNBC. The bombshell dropped as it reported second-quarter earnings that fell below analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Zoom, Feb. 7, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,300 people, 15% of workforce.

Zoom's CEO and founder Eric Yuan shared a memo to staff saying, "Each organization across Zoom will be impacted by these changes." According to the release, Zoom's leadership carefully examined and made decisions based on critical priorities for long-term growth, and also looked for functions that have become overly complex or duplicative. To further display accountability, Yuan will also decrease his salary for the coming fiscal year by 98% and forego his FY23 corporate bonus. "Members of my executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20% for the coming fiscal year while also forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses," he said.

Dell, Feb. 6, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 6,650 people, 5% of workforce.

Dell's PC boom during the pandemic-era has slowly come to an end, with various hardware makers experiencing major drops in demand. Among major companies, Dell saw the largest decline -- 37% compared with the same period in 2021, according to IDC. The erosion of market conditions has helped create an uncertain future globally, according to a blog post from Co-COO Jeff Clarke. "The steps we’ve taken to stay ahead of downturn impacts -- which enabled several strong quarters in a row -- are no longer enough. We now have to make additional decisions to prepare for the road ahead," said Clarke.

Byju's, Feb. 2, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,500 people.

After placing hundreds of employees on personal improvement plans (PIP), multinational edtech company Byju's cited poor employee performance as reasoning behind its latest round of layoffs. Engineering and product teams will be impacted most, according to LinkedIn posts from now former employees.

PayPal, Jan. 31, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 2,000 people, 7% of workforce.

PayPal is in the process of "right sizing" its cost structure and made additional steps to bring that into fruition, according to a release posted to the company's website. "We have more work to do. We must continue to change as our world, our customers, and our competitive landscape evolve."

NetApp, Jan. 31, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 960 people, 8% of workforce.

CEO George Kurian's memo to staff said "companies are facing an increasingly challenging macroeconomic environment, which is driving more conservatism in IT spending. We are not immune to these challenges."

Workday, Jan. 31, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 525 people.

Workday Co-CEOs Aneel Bhusri and Carl Eschenbach sent an email to employees, which was also posted publicly, detailing a realignment of resources to focus their business in FY24. The company dismissed theories of over hiring, assuring employees that their global workforce will increase in 2024. However, product and technology teams will be affected immediately.

OLX Group, Jan. 31, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,500 people, 15% of workforce.

The OLX Group's dwindling demand for its services has caused the company to downsize their global workforce. Engineering and operations teams will be impacted the most, while cost structure and future ambitions are reimagined. A company spokesperson publicly confirmed the move stating, "OLX is taking the necessary measures to reduce its cost structure in light of changing macroeconomic conditions."

SAP, Jan. 26, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 3,000 people.

According to SAP's CFO Luka Mucic, "the company expects about 300 to 350 million euros [$327-$382 million] in run rate savings." The restructuring announcement detailed goals of a streamlined portfolio and increased investments in high-impact areas for the company. SAP will also attempt to recoup its stake in American business software provider Qualtrics, after making the initial $8 billion investment back in 2018.

IBM, Jan. 25, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 3,900 people.

IBM's workforce reduction comes with a silver lining attached for some current employees. "IBM still expects to hire in the higher growth areas. The effect of currency fluctuations should be neutral overall in 2023," according to CFO James Kavanaugh in an interview with Bloomberg. Kavanaugh told Reuters the company was still committed to hiring for client-facing research and development. The layoffs came despite IBM also reporting its highest annual growth in a decade, powered by its fast-growing cloud market.

Google, Jan. 20, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 12,000 people.

Google and Alphabet’s CEO Sundar Pichai sent an email to employees, which was also posted publicly. He said, “Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today.” Pichai said the job cuts are across product areas, functions, levels, and regions.

Capital One, Jan. 19, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 1,100 people.

Capital One is eliminating its "agile delivery of technology" department, thus shifting this workload to engineers and product managers that will be expected to use these routines. “This announcement is not a reflection on these individuals or the work they have driven on behalf of our technology organization. Their contributions have been critical to maturing our software-delivery model and our overall tech transformation,” Capital One said in its message to employees obtained by Bloomberg.

Microsoft, Jan. 18, 2023 announcement. Eliminating 10,000 jobs, less than 5% of workforce.

A public post shared CEO Satya Nadella’s note to Microsoft employees, which said that the company will reduce its overall workforce by 10,000 through the end of the fiscal year 2023 third quarter. Nadella said that while Microsoft will eliminate jobs in some areas, the company will continue to hire in key strategic areas. Nadella said the changes were driven as customers are shifting spending. During the pandemic they accelerated digital spending. Now, “we’re seeing them optimize their digital spend to do more with less.” Nadella also mentioned the potential for recession.

Cloud Software Group, Jan. 11, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 15% of workforce.

Cloud Software Group was the company formed when private equity owners merged Citrix and Tibco, two enterprise giants. In a public post, CEO Tom Krause said the company had undergone a rigorous review and planning process that identified redundancies in the workforce.

Coinbase, Jan. 10, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 950 people.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced the layoffs in a letter to employees on Jan. 10, 2023, saying the layoff of 950 people was part of an initiative to reduce the company’s operating expenses by 25% quarter to quarter. The company had already cut 18% of jobs in June 2022. Armstrong said the changes to improve operational efficiency will help it weather downturns in the crypto market and capture opportunities that may emerge.

Informatica, Jan. 10, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 450 employees, 7% of workforce.

The company made the news public in an 8-K filing with the SEC. Informatica said that this plan is intended to better align the company’s global workforce and cost base with its cloud-focused strategic priorities. In addition, the company’s CFO Eric Brown left and a new CFO, Michael McLaughlin, was appointed.

Salesforce, Jan. 4, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 10% (7,900 employees).

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said in a letter to employees on January 4 that the current environment is challenging and customers are “taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions.” Benioff said that as revenue accelerated during the pandemic, Salesforce hired too many people and now the company is facing an economic downturn. Therefore the company will reduce its workforce by 10%.

Amazon, November 2022 and Jan. 4, 2023 announcements. Layoff of 18,000+.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy first shared plans about coming layoffs in the company’s blog in November 2022 targeting the organization’s devices and books divisions, and then updated that on Jan. 4, 2023. In the January blog post he said that Amazon would eliminate just over 18,000 roles, the highest number in the company’s history, with the majority of those cut being in Amazon Stores and PXT Solutions (People, Experience, and Technology, essentially HR). Ironically, the PTX team had posted a recruitment video for the team just nine months ago. The layoffs are scheduled to happen the week of January 18, but Jassy announced them early due to leaks. Amazon had 1.61 million employees in 2021.

Vimeo, Jan. 4, 2023 announcement. Layoff of 11%.

Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud announced the move in a note to employees. This 11% reduction follows an earlier 16% reduction in July 2022. Most of those impacted are in sales and R&D because those departments make up most of the workforce. Sud cited a deterioration in economic conditions, geopolitical conflict, rising interest rates, and global recession fears. She said the executive team would focus on two business priorities going forward -- reaccelerating self-serve and doubling down on Vimeo Enterprise.

DoorDash, November 2022 announcement. Layoff of 1,250 or 6% of workforce.

In his memo to employees, CEO Tony Xu said that the company sped up hiring during the pandemic to meet the opportunity as so many homebound people started ordering to have their restaurant meals delivered. But growth has tapered, he said, compared to the pandemic growth rates, and the company needed to get its operating expenses in line with its revenue.

Meta, November 2022 announcement. Total layoff of 11,000 employees.

Facebook parent Meta announced it would lay off 13% of its workforce, or 11,000 employees. In addition, the company said it would cut discretionary spending and extend its hiring freeze through Q1 2023. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a letter to employees that the pandemic drove people online and e-commerce surged -- a trend that he thought would continue, so he invested more. However, e-commerce returned to prior levels. He also cited a macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss as contributing to much lower revenue.

Twitter, November 2022 and ongoing. Thousands of employees. Exact number unknown.

Elon Musk completed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter on October 27 and immediately fired top executives. Days later mass layoffs began and have continued ever since.

UiPath, November 2022. Layoff of 6% of the workforce, or approximately 241 employees.

The company mentioned this workforce reduction in an SEC filing under the heading “Costs Associated with Exit or Disposal Activities.” The filing stated that the cuts support the company’s positioning to increase execution velocity, operational efficiency, and customer centricity.

iFit, November 2022. Layoff of 20% of workforce, or 300 people.

Fueled by the at-home fitness boom, iFit hired during the pandemic and reached a high of more than 2,500 employees. The company makes exercise equipment and exercise content for the home market. But demand fell off after the peak of the pandemic. These new cuts take those employee numbers down to a sobering 1,300.

Peloton, October 2022. Layoff of 500 workers or 12% of workforce.

These most recent cuts in October came after several other rounds of layoffs (including one in February 2022 of 20% or 2,800 employees) at the online fitness equipment and content company. The company saw huge growth during the pandemic as more people wanted to work out at home. But demand has dropped as some aspects of life, such as gym attendance, have gotten close to pre-pandemic norms again.

DataRobot, August 2022. Layoff of 26% of workforce, or 260 jobs.

CEO Debanjan Saha said in a blog post announcing the company restructuring that “the market now looks different than it did in 2021 as global IPO activity hit an all-time high, when DataRobot pursued an aggressive growth strategy and expanded business operations in preparation for the public markets.” The news also followed the departure of four senior executives, including the former CEO, following controversial insider share sales. The August announcement was the second layoff of 2022. In May the company laid off nearly 7% of its workforce.

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