Spotlight on layoffs: Cuts at Amazon, Cisco, Roku, Meta, Twitter, Intel and more

“Earlier this year, we launched Googler Reviews and Development (GRAD) to help employee development, coaching, learning and career progression throughout the year,” a Google spokesperson told MarketWatch in a statement. “The new system helps establish clear expectations and provide employees with regular feedback.”

Read: Google looks to shed 10,000 ‘poor-performing’ workers: report

The spokesperson declined to comment on the potential job cuts.

HP

HP Inc.
HPQ
executives announced plans to cut up to 10% of the company’s workforce amid what CEO Enrique Lores described as “a volatile macro environment and softening demand in the second half, with a slowdown on the commercial side.”

“Companies are delaying their refresh [sales] cycle,” Lores told MarketWatch in an interview ahead of the public release of the company’s fourth-quarter results.

Now read: HP plans to cut up to 10% of workforce as earnings forecast comes up short

HP is launching a three-year workforce-reduction plan meant to shed 4,000 to 6,000 jobs, according to Lores, with more than half of the roughly $1 billion in restructuring costs expected to be realized in the new fiscal year. 

Amazon

Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN
confirmed plans to lay off workers in its devices and services business.

In a post on the company’s corporate site, Dave Limp, senior vice president of Amazon’s devices and services business, said the company would consolidate some teams and programs. “One of the consequences of these decisions is that some roles will no longer be required,” he said. Limp didn’t specify how many roles would be affected.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon could eventually cut about 10,000 jobs.

In a subsequent blog post on the company’s corporate site, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said the online retailer is planning additional layoffs, which affected employees will learn more about next year. “Our annual planning process extends into the new year, which means there will be more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments,” he wrote. “Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023.”

Now see: Amazon confirms layoffs, becoming latest tech powerhouse to slash roles

The tech giant, which recently announced a pause in corporate hiring, has 1.54 million employees, according to its most recent quarterly earnings report.

Cisco  

Cisco Inc.
CSCO
is planning a “limited business restructuring” that will adjust the networking giant’s real-estate portfolio and affect about 5% of its 80,000-strong global workforce, or some 4,000 people.

“This is about rebalancing across the board,” said Chief Financial Officer Scott Herren, adding that as many jobs will be added as reduced.

Also read: Cisco’s stock rises on strong quarterly sales and guidance, but a restructuring is coming

“Our goal is to minimize the number of people who end up having to leave,” Herren told MarketWatch. “We will match as many with new roles at the company as we can. This is not about reducing our workforce. In fact, we’ll have roughly the same number of employees at the end of this fiscal year as we had when we started.”

Roku

Roku Inc.
ROKU
has announced it will cut about 5% of its workforce amid a challenging advertising landscape.

“Due to the current economic conditions in our industry, we have made the difficult decision to reduce Roku’s headcount expenses by a projected 5%, to slow down our [operating-expense] growth rate,” the company said in a brief statement, noting that about 200 positions in the U.S. will be affected. “Taking these actions now will allow us to focus our investments on key strategic priorities to drive future growth and enhance our leadership position,” the statement said.

Related: Roku to cut 5% of staff in latest signal of challenging times for ad industry

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Roku said it anticipated charges of about $28 million to $31 million related to the job cuts, mainly stemming from severance payments, notice pay, employee benefits and other costs. The company expects to take the bulk of those charges in the fourth quarter of 2022. Implementation of the workforce reductions will be mostly complete by the end of the first quarter of 2023, it said.

Salesforce

Salesforce Inc.
CRM
laid off hundreds of employees from its sales team, according to news reports, as the tech sector as a whole wrestles with a challenging economic environment.

Axios reported that the San Francisco-based company laid off several hundred workers. “Our sales performance process drives accountability,” said a Salesforce spokesperson in a statement emailed to MarketWatch. “Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.”

Now read: Think you had a bad week? Salesforce, cloud companies had some of their worst weeks ever

As of February 2022, the customer-relationship-management software company had over 78,000 employees globally. Citing a source, Barron’s reported that the recent job cuts represent less than 1% of the company’s workforce.

RingCentral

RingCentral Inc.
RNG
joined the list of tech companies making layoffs, announcing a plan to cut 10% of its workforce as part of a broader push to cut costs amid a deteriorating economic environment. The cloud-based communications company’s stock jumped on news of the layoffs and of RingCentral’s third-quarter earnings, which beat analysts’ expectations.

In October, RingCentral was added to the list of “zombie” stocks compiled by equity research firm New Constructs.

Also read: RingCentral added to ‘zombie’ stocks list by equity research firm New Constructs

New Constructs, which uses machine learning and natural language processing to parse corporate filings and model economic earnings, described RingCentral as a “cash incinerator” at risk of declining to $0 per share.

Redfin

Redfin
RDFN
announced another round of layoffs, with CEO Glenn Kelman saying that the company was laying off 13% of its staff, or 862 employees. The real-estate brokerage also announced the closure of RedfinNow, a service that bought homes for cash and resold them to buyers on the market.

“The housing market will get smaller in 2023,” Kelman wrote in an email to staff. “A layoff is awful but we can’t avoid it,” he added.

Now read: ‘A layoff is awful but we can’t avoid it:’ Redfin lays off 13% of staff as housing market slows down

In June, Redfin laid off 8% of its staff, citing “years” of “fewer home sales.”

Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat Inc. 
BYND
made fresh job cuts in October, slashing about 19% of its global workforce. The company also issued a revenue warning amid softness in the plant-based-meat category, along with increased competition and inflation pressures. Beyond Meat said it will book a roughly $4 million one-time cash charge in the third quarter to cover the job cuts.

The cuts followed a 4% workforce reduction in August.

Related: Beyond Meat’s stock edges lower on sales drop, growing losses

The pressures on the plant-based food company continue. In November, Beyond Meat reported a big drop in third-quarter revenue, escalating losses and tepid revenue guidance.

Meta

Facebook parent Meta
META
is cutting 11,000 employees, or about 13% of its workforce, in the first layoffs in the company’s 18-year history. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has taken responsibility for the cuts, admitting to expanding the company too quickly amid a pandemic-fueled surge in revenue.

“Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected,” he wrote in a post on the company’s public newsroom. “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

Now read: Facebook parent Meta begins mass layoffs of 11,000 workers as Mark Zuckerberg says, ‘I take responsibility’

Zuckerberg wrote that while Meta will be making reductions in every area across both its Family of Apps and Reality Labs segments, some teams will be affected more than others. The cuts to Reality Labs will be closely watched for any potential impact on the company’s metaverse strategy, which is handled within the segment.

Twitter

Meta’s job cuts came hot on the heels of layoffs at Twitter that affected about half of that company’s 7,500 employees. In late October, Elon Musk bought Twitter for the inflated price of $44 billion and quickly launched an effort to slash costs at the unprofitable company.

Before the layoffs hit, Twitter faced a class-action lawsuit over lack of notice to employees.

Also read: ‘I just killed it’: Musk scraps Twitter’s gray ‘official’ label just hours after its launch

The cuts, which came just before the midterm elections, have also sparked concern about the microblogging site’s ability to fight misinformation in the postelection period.

Lyft

In November, Lyft Inc.
LYFT
announced plans to lay off 13% of its workforce, or about 683 employees. The ride-hailing company’s executives described the move as a proactive step as they eye a possible recession and as they plan for the coming year.

Now read: Lyft lays off 13% of workers in second round of cuts this year, maintains financial guidance

The latest layoffs follow 60 job cuts in July; a hiring freeze through the end of the year was also implemented in September. In April 2020, in the early days of the pandemic, Lyft laid off nearly 1,000 employees and put another 288 on furlough.

Intel

In October, Intel Corp.
INTC
announced plans for job cuts as it reported its third-quarter results. The chip maker said it is focused on driving $3 billion in cost reductions in 2023. “Inclusive in our efforts will be steps to optimize our headcount,” chief executive Pat Gelsinger said during a conference call with analysts to discuss the third-quarter results.

Now read: Intel reportedly to start ‘targeted’ layoffs in November

Intel is said to be planning “targeted” layoffs in November. It is not yet clear how many of the company’s 121,000-plus employees will be affected.

Snap

Some companies confirmed their layoffs earlier this year. In August, Snap Inc.
SNAP
announced job cuts as part of a “broader strategic reprioritization” that would see the social-media company focus on cost cuts and aim for profit and positive free cash flow. The company said it would cut about 20% of its full-time employees.

“The scale of these changes vary from team to team, depending upon the level of prioritization and investment needed to execute against our strategic priorities,” said Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel in a statement. “The extent of this reduction should substantially reduce the risk of ever having to do this again, while balancing our desire to invest in our long-term future and reaccelerate our revenue growth.”

Related: Snap stock rallies more than 10% after company confirms layoffs, launches restructuring

The Verge reported that Snap had more than 6,400 employees prior to the job cuts.

Robinhood

Also in August, Robinhood Markets Inc.
HOOD
announced plans to cut its workforce by 23%. The company, which was a launchpad for 2021’s meme-stock phenomenon, cited a weaker economic environment and depressed trading activity.

Also read: Robinhood to lay off 23% of its workforce, with CEO admitting ‘this is on me’

In April, Robinhood cut about 9% of its workforce. At that time, CEO Vlad Tenev wrote in a blog post that the company had grown from about 700 employees at the start of 2020 to nearly 3,800.

Coinbase

In July, Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN
announced plans to lay off 18% of its employees, just two weeks after extending a hiring freeze and rescinding some job offers. In a blog post, CEO Brian Armstrong said the decision was made “to ensure we stay healthy during this economic downturn.”

Now read: Why Coinbase is laying off 18% of employees and what it means for crypto

The crypto exchange had expanded rapidly, from 1,250 employees at the beginning of 2021 to 4,948 at the end of March 2022. “I am the CEO, and the buck stops with me,” said Armstrong, adding that the company grew too rapidly.

Shopify

Also in July, Shopify Inc.
SHOP
announced plans to lay off 10% of its staff, with the e-commerce company citing an evolving business landscape. In a blog post, Chief Executive Tobi Lütke explained that, as a result of the pandemic, Spotify had bet that the share of dollars going through e-commerce rather than physical retail would permanently leap ahead by five or even 10 years. “It’s now clear that bet didn’t pay off,” he wrote. “What we see now is the mix reverting to roughly where pre-COVID data would have suggested it should be at this point.”