We’ve seen some massive layoffs over the last few years. I remember when I saw the first announcement of Facebook firing 11,000 staff late last year, which was followed by Twitter employees leaving as Elon arrived. Now, we’ve seen Microsoft reducing its workforce by 10,000, making us wonder how many more are coming.
According to a report by Crunchbase, 2022 saw a total of 107,000 people losing jobs in big tech companies. We’re hardly in 2023, and it looks like we’ve already got 21,000 layoffs in the United States alone. What is causing so many job losses, though, since we’re supposed to be moving away from the pandemic financial crisis we had?
The experts seem to believe that it’s due to the combination of several factors. The rising cost of inflation is always the usual suspect, but there’s more at play here. Besides the unpredictable stock market, it also has to do with how careless these companies have been with overhiring. They believed the markets were going to soar again, so they hired as many tech and support staff as possible.
Sadly for them and the employees, they were wrong. Without the funding needed to continue the operations, these tech companies had to let them go.
The Crunchbase report shows some alarming numbers for big companies. Amazon is among them, with a staggering number of 18,000 employees gone earlier this month. Coinbase is also listed, with 2,110 people losing their jobs in 2023. Even Twitter lost another 3,740 personnel on 5 Jan.
Here is a quick overview of the top tech companies and the recent layoffs since COVID-19:
- Amazon: 18,000
- Microsoft: 11,000
- Meta: 11,000
- Salesfore: 8,000
- Booking.com: 4,375
- Cisco: 4,100
- Twitter: 3,700
- Uber: 3,700
- Better.com: 3,000
It’s staggering to see such big names losing so many employees. It makes me wonder how the smaller businesses are faring in such difficult times, and it also puts some perspective on life. If you’re upset that your potatoes didn’t grow properly or stumped your toe, just remember that someone out there just lost a job in a prominent company.
