US firms lay off thousands amid recession concerns
A sLEW of companies across the tech, media, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts to staff in 2023. Tech titans like Google and Meta, finance giants like Goldman sachs, and manufacturers like Dow all announced layoffs.
2024 is already looking grim. And it’s only January.
Thirty-eight percent of business leaders surveyed by resumeBuilder think layoffs are likely at their companies this year, and around half say their companies will implement a hiring freeze.
resumeBuilder talked to around 900 leaders at organisations with more than 10 employees. Half of those surveyed cited concerns about a recession as a reason. Another major factor: artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 respondents said they'll conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI, with Dropbox, Google, and IBM have already announced job cuts for that very reason.
Here are 16 companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.
Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant. in an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. According to the email, April 9 will be the last day for those unable to secure a new position.
The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6 percent reduction of its global workforce (about 12 000 people) last January.
Google laid off hundreds more workers in 2024. Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant. in an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. for those unable to secure a new position, their last day will be April 9, according to the email.
The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6 percent reduction of its global workforce (about 12 000 people) last January.
Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason citron.
“We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020,” citron said in the memo. “As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.” in August, Discord reduced its headcount by 4 percent. According to CNBC, the company was valued at US$15 billion in 2021.
Discord is laying off 170 employees.
The layoffs are part of a larger citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180 000 — excluding its Mexico operations. in an earnings call earlier this month, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to US$2,5 billion after it suffered a very disappointing final quarter last year.
citi will cut 20 000 from its staff as part of its corporate overhaul.
This year’s cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company’s history. in 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers. Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM studios, said in an email to employees that several hundred roles would be slashed to refocus on more profitable products. We’ve identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact, Hopkins told employees.
‘several hundred’ jobs are being cut at Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM studios. Amazon is laying off “several hundred” employees in its Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM studios divisions. senior Vice President Mike Hopkins said in a January 10 memo to employees that “we’ve identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact.”
Affected employees will be notified by the end of the week, the memo said. The cuts follow several rounds of layoffs at Amazon that started in 2022 and continued into 2023, affecting more than 27,000 people. Twitch announced that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of employees at the live-streaming company. CEO Dan clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is meaningfully bigger than necessary.
As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible, clancy wrote. Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and i regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch.
The same day, Amazon-owned Twitch also announced job cuts.
Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike’s stock plunging. “We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behaviour around the world,” Nike chief financial officer Matt friend said last month.
Nike’s up-to-US$2 billion cost-cutting plan will involve severances. The athletic-wear giant Nike announced an up-to-US$2 billion cost-cutting initiative that will take place over the next three years in its second quarter earnings report on December 21.
As part of that initiative, the company said it’s expecting to make job cuts.
Nike didn’t disclose exactly how many roles that affects, but it does expect to book somewhere between US$400 million and US$450 million in pre-tax charges, largely in its fiscal third quarter and largely related to severance costs. Other areas for cost-cutting that the company identified included “increasing automation and use of technology" and “simplifying our product assortment."
Larry fink, Blackrock’s chief executive, and rob Kapito, the firm's president, announced that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20 000. However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.— Business insider Africa