More than 212,000 global technology-sector employees have been laid off since the start of 2023, according to data compiled by the website Layoffs.fyi.
That number has gone up more than eightfold since mid-January, the website noted.
The data show that 2023 has easily surpassed 2022 for global tech redundancies, with 824 tech companies laying off 212,294 employees since the start of the year. Last year, 1,024 tech companies laid off a total of 154,336 employees, according to Layoffs.fyi.
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Niantic Inc., the company that created the popular “Pokemon Go” game, announced 230 layoffs last week, joining the list of tech companies making head-count reductions. In an email to employees that was posted on the company’s website, CEO John Hanke said that Niantic had allowed its expenses to grow faster than revenue.
At the end of June, the Wall Street Journal reported that stock-trading app Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD, +6.81% was laying off around 7% of its full-time staff, or about 150 people. “We’re ensuring operational excellence in how we work together on an ongoing basis,” a Robinhood spokesperson told MarketWatch. “In some cases, this may mean teams make changes based on volume, workload, org design and more.”
Earlier in the month Insider reported that Oracle Corp. ORCL, -1.63% had laid off hundreds of employees, cut back open positions and rescinded job offers at its health unit. MarketWatch has reached out to Oracle with a request for comment on this story.
Related: Robinhood is laying off around 7% of staff, WSJ reports
And in early June, Spotify Technology SA SPOT, +0.01% announced plans to lay off approximately 200 people, or 2% of the company’s workforce.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s BABA, +0.86% cloud unit also started cutting 7% of staff, Barron’s reported in late May, citing a source familiar with the matter. News of the job cuts was first reported by Bloomberg.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. META, -0.33% also had its latest round of layoffs in late May, according to reports, marking the tech giant’s third round of cuts this year. Meta declined to comment in response to a request from MarketWatch for confirmation of the latest layoffs. The company’s second round of layoffs in April cut technical positions, according to LinkedIn posts. Meta is in the midst of cutting 21,000 jobs in 2023 as part of what CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described as a “year of efficiency” for the company.
Related: Oracle makes health-unit layoffs, report says
Other big-name tech companies have also been making cuts. In early May, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -0.75% -owned LinkedIn announced plans to cut its workforce by more than 700 employees. The company was also getting rid of its local jobs app in China. “As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees,” LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky wrote in a May 8 email to the company’s employees that was also posted on the company’s website.
LinkedIn has more than 20,000 employees, according to its website.
Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, -0.11% conducted layoffs in Amazon Web Services and in its human-resources department, the company said in late April.
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And in March, Electronic Arts Inc. EA, +0.90% announced its intention to slash 6% of its workforce as the videogame publisher looks to cut costs. Streaming-media company Roku Inc. ROKU, +2.16% also disclosed that it would lay off 200 employees as part of a cost-cutting plan.
A host of tech companies, including Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR, +1.24%, Twilio Inc. TWLO, +0.69%, DocuSign Inc. DOCU, +1.39%, Salesforce Inc. CRM, +0.18%, SAP SAP, -1.65%, Zoom Video Communications Inc. ZM, +0.60%, eBay Inc. EBAY, +1.21%, Dell Technologies Inc. DELL, +0.92%, PayPal Holdings Inc. PYPL, +2.05%, International Business Machines Corp. IBM, -0.10%, Intel Corp. INTC, +0.54%, Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -0.75%, and Google parent Alphabet Inc. GOOG, -0.34% GOOGL, +0.17%, have also announced job cuts in 2023.
Since Elon Musk took control of Twitter last year, the San Francisco-based company has also made significant layoffs. In March, Musk described laying off almost 6,500 people, or 80% of the company’s workforce, as “painful” and “one of the hardest things” he has had to do.
Additional reporting by Bill Peters, Emily Bary, Jon Swartz and Anviksha Patel.