The wave of layoffs continues to ‘sweep’ technology companies in 2023, at least 25,000 employees will lose their jobs

The wave of layoffs at dozens of major US companies by the end of 2022 seems to show no signs of slowing down in 2023. Amazon has announced that it will lay off a total of 18,000 workers, citing ” economic hardship”.

However, Amazon isn’t the first tech company to make cuts this new year. Salesforce and Vimeo have also announced thousands of layoffs amid the continued economic downturn and stagnant sales. The downsizing is the same as the significant cuts at Twitter and Meta late last year.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the current job cuts are largely in the technology sector after the field grew too quickly during the outbreak of the pandemic. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows that technology companies have cut more than 150,000 jobs in 2022 alone, a tenfold increase from 15,000 in 2021.

Amazon: 18,000 employees

This is considered the largest staff reduction in the history of the e-commerce giant. In a notice to employees, CEO Andy Jassy said the company will lay off a total of 18,000 employees, higher than the previously announced number. At the end of 2022, the New York Times reported that Amazon plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 3% of the company’s workforce.

He shared: “In the context of economic difficulties, this year’s assessment of the company is not good. Also, we’ve been hiring too much in the past few years“. Affected divisions include Amazon Store, Human Experience, and Technology Solutions.

Salesforce: 10% of employees, equivalent to about 7,000 people

On January 4, Marc Benioff, co-CEO of Salesforce, a cloud-based software company, announced that the company plans to lay off 10% of its workforce, or 7,000 employees, and close one number of offices as part of a restructuring and cost-cutting plan.

“The environment remains challenging and customers are becoming more cautious with their purchasing decisions. With this in mind, we have made the very difficult decision to reduce our staff by 10% in the coming weeks“, Benioff wrote in an email to employees.

“As the company’s revenue grew rapidly during the pandemic, we hired too many people leading to the economic downturn the company is facing and I am responsible for that.“, he added.

Vimeo: 11% of personnel

On January 4, Anjali Sud, CEO of Vimeo announced that the company would lay off 11% of its employees. This is the video platform’s second-biggest layoffs in less than a year, after cutting 6% of staff in July 2022.

“This is a very difficult decision that affects each of us deeply,” Sud wrote in an email to employees.It’s also the right thing to do to help make Vimeo a more focused and successful company that operates with the discipline needed during a tough economy.“.

A Vimeo representative said the cuts are intended to support ongoing economic concerns and improve the company’s balance sheet.

Reference: Business Insider