NEW YORK: Layoffs that began in 2022 are accelerating across some technology companies.
The tech industry is slashing jobs at a pace nearing the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. In November, the most recent month for which data is available, the sector announced 52,771 cuts, for a total of 80,978 this year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc It was the highest monthly total for the industry since the firm started keeping data in 2000.
After a bumpy start to the pandemic in 2020, tech companies benefited from a boom in e-commerce spending and remote work boomed, triggering a hiring spree. Now, things look different. In recent earnings reports, Alphabet Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and others missed estimates, sending shares plunging. For Amazon.com Inc and Salesforce Inc, the outlook seems to be worsening as they pursue deeper layoffs at the start of 2023. Other companies are reckoning with volatile cryptocurrency markets or a sudden slump in demand.
