Zephyrnet Logo

End of an Era: The great tech expansion takes a hammering with a layoff spree

Date:

Tech layoffs 2022 include tech giants like Amazon, Twitter, and Meta. What’s worse is that as the year comes to a close, it appears that there will be even more. Layoffs began after a successful year for technology in 2021. In 2022, 795 tech companies laid off 121,667 employees and, unfortunately, still counting.


The core engines of the sector have traditionally been the North American technology sector. The U.S. tech sector has been a consistent source of rising stocks and comfortable, well-paying jobs for over 20 years. The boot is now on the other foot. Let’s examine the circumstances that led to the tech layoffs 2022, how they came about, and what will occur in the future.

Table of Contents

Tech layoffs 2022: The reasons

Numerous businesses that have made public statements have mentioned at least one of two main reasons:

  • During the epidemic, when people were very online, they employed a lot of staff. Now that the online boom has subsided and actual life has resumed, those new hires appear too expensive.
  • Brands are now less willing to invest in digital advertising, a source of income for many online companies, due to broader economic uncertainty. The cheap-money age of venture capital has ended due to high-interest rates.

Is COVID-19 causing tech layoffs? As we mentioned above, starting of COVID-19 is not driving the situation. As a matter of fact, the fading effects of the pandemic call forth the tech layoffs 2022. With the chart below, You can check the tech layoffs since COVID-19.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree

So, how did we get here? Big Tech businesses have just posted less-than-stellar earnings. Still, they have also given off warning indications about the coming months. Companies claimed that customers were cutting down on their spending because a recession was imminent. There were few indications that things would soon turn around. This indicates that those businesses and more will also look for cost-cutting opportunities in the upcoming weeks and months.

The pandemic, which encouraged the boom, has now ended for the tech industry. What’s taking place right now is sort of a correction as the IT industry readjusts to a period when people aren’t cooped up at home, glued to their devices.

What’s happening now? Tech layoffs 2022 continue at full pace. Just in November, 83 tech companies such as Coinbase, Spotify, Meta, and Twitter laid off their employees due to economic challenges, which made this month worst in terms of layoffs.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree

Consumer-related tech companies took the biggest hit with food and transportation. It makes sense when we think about how the pandemic affects us. At the beginning of it, we were at home, ordered food online, and kept away from public transportation.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree

Asana is the latest company to lay off its employees.

Asana layoffs 2022

Work management software supplier Asana announced on Tuesday that it was cutting off 9% of its total workforce to reduce operational costs, joining other technology companies that are also laying off employees to combat the global economic downturn.


Anne Raimondi, the firm’s chief operating officer (COO), announced the company was cutting the size of its projected 1,600-person global workforce on LinkedIn on Tuesday.

Let’s put tech layoffs 2022 under a microscope and better understand what’s happening now and what will happen next.

Biggest tech layoffs in 2022

At the time of writing, the followings are the biggest tech layoffs in 2022 in terms of the number of employees that are laid off and the size of the company:

  • Meta layoffs 2022: 11,000
  • Amazon layoffs 2022: 10,000
  • Snap layoffs 2022: 6,000
  • Getir layoffs 2022: 4,480
  • Twitter layoffs 2022: 3,700
  • Bytedance layoffs 2022: 3600
  • Salesforce layoffs 2022: 2,100
  • Stripe layoffs 2022:1,100
  • Coinbase layoffs 2022: 1,100
  • Microsoft layoffs 2022: 1,000
  • Salesforce layoffs 2022: 1,000
  • Netflix layoffs 2022: 450
  • Tesla layoffs 2022: 229

Let’s quickly remind you what happened.

Meta layoffs 2022

Due to economic challenges, Meta let go of 13% of its workforce, or more than 11,000 workers. It is the biggest in tech layoffs 2022.

“Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history. I’ve decided to reduce the size of our team by about 13% and let more than 11,000 of our talented employees go. We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1.”

Zuckerberg

We have already explained Facebook layoffs 2022; check out for detailed information.


Amazon layoffs 2022

Amazon laid off 10,000 employees working in corporate and technical jobs, which will be the most significant reduction in workforce in company history.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022: Some tech companies slowed or froze hiring instead off lay off

Snap layoffs 2022

After Snap laid off 20% of its workers, the parent company of Snapchat has shelved several initiatives, including the Pixy photo-taking drone and its slate of Snap Originals premium programs.

Getir layoffs 2022

4480 people will be impacted worldwide by the Getir layoffs. Getir, a $12 billion startup in rapid delivery that delivers groceries and other products and guarantees delivery in minutes, is laying off 14% of its workers globally. It is one of the biggest in tech layoffs 2022.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022: Food-related tech companies highly affected by layoff trend

According to reports, the Turkish company employs 32,000 people across its nine markets, so 4,480 people must have been affected by the layoffs.

Twitter layoffs 2022

On Friday, November 4, Twitter will “cut our global workforce,” as it has informed staff. Musk is trying to keep Twitter’s expenses under control with the layoffs.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022: Tiktok parent company Bytedance also decided layoffs are needed

We have already explained Twitter layoffs 2022; check out for detailed information.


Bytedance layoffs 2022

The video game branch of the Chinese giant ByteDance has let go of hundreds of staff. Since last year, Chinese regulatory authorities have increased their pressure on domestic tech giants to break up their monopoly in the internet industry.

Salesforce layoffs 2022

2,100 employees were let go by the cloud-based commercial software producer Salesforce.

“Our sales performance process drives accountability. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition.”

Salesforce

Stripe layoffs 2022

Online payments behemoth Stripe let go over 1,100 people last week, or about 14% of its workforce.

All departing employees will receive a 14-week severance package from Stripe, with additional payments made to those with longer employment. It will also pay the equivalent of six months’ worth of past or future healthcare premiums.

Stripe’s internal valuation was reportedly reduced to $74 billion in July from $95 billion last year.

We have already explained Stripe layoffs 2022; check out for detailed information.

Coinbase layoffs 2022

Coinbase announced in June that it had reduced the number of full-time employees by 18%, or roughly 1,100 people.


Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, warned of a potential recession, the need to control costs, and “too rapid” growth during a bull market.

Microsoft layoffs 2022

Microsoft acknowledged that less than 1% of its workforce was laid off. Less than 1,000 people were affected by the cuts.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022: Microsoft also freezes hiring

Microsoft had previously predicted the worst sales increase in more than five years for the quarter ending on September 30.

We have already explained Microsoft layoffs 2022; check out for detailed information.

Salesforce layoffs 2022

Although the exact number of positions cut at Salesforce is unknown, the business claims that there were fewer than a thousand. The business said in a formal declaration, “Our sales performance process encourages responsibility. Unfortunately, some people may leave the company as a result, and we assist them in their transition.

Netflix layoffs 2022

As a result of intense competition from services like Disney+ and a widely publicized crackdown on password sharing, Netflix’s subscriber base started to decline for the first time in 2022.

The reason for the 300 job losses in June, which came after the loss of 150 workers in May, was attributed to sluggish revenue growth.


Tesla layoffs 2022

Elon Musk’s Tesla company laid off 229 employees in June, which was to be expected given that he had recently informed Bloomberg that he would be reducing staff by up to 10%.

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022: Elon Musk decides layoffs are needed for both Tesla and Twitter

Salary workers were impacted, the majority of whom were allegedly experts in data annotation.

Tech companies that have slowed or frozen hiring

Layoffs are not the only solution to take precautions. Some companies slowed or froze hiring, which is also bad for the sector. These are the tech companies that have slowed or frozen hiring:


  • Microsoft
  • Nvidia
  • Lyft
  • Uber
  • Salesforce
  • Meta
  • Spotify
  • Google
  • Apple

Tech layoffs 2022 also started to freeze the tech industry’s hiring trend.

Microsoft

In late May, Microsoft reduced hiring for its Teams, Office, and Windows software divisions. These teams only experience the slowdown because of recent growth. As the start of the new fiscal year draws near, a Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg that the company is “making sure the right resources are aligned to the right opportunity.” The company cut numerous job postings on July 20, including those in its cloud and security business units.

Nvidia

In its earnings call in May, Nvidia announced that hiring would slow down in the latter part of the year. According to Nvidia, the decision is being made “to focus our budget on caring for existing employees as inflation persists.”

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022:

Lyft

Lyft announced in May that it would slow down hiring to concentrate on key open positions. In a memo to the staff, company president John Zimmer stated that cost-cutting measures would be taken due to “an economic slowdown and the dramatic change in investor sentiment.”

Uber

In response to a “seismic shift” in the market, Uber is reducing hiring and other expenses, according to an email CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sent to staff. According to Khosrowshahi, hiring should be considered a “privilege,” and the business will reduce its “least efficient” marketing and incentive costs. In the middle of September, it shut down its office in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Salesforce

In May, Salesforce reduced employment and other costs, such as business travel and some upcoming off-sites, according to an internal memo. The corporation did not explain the budget cuts. The past six months have seen an almost 50% decline in the stock price of Salesforce.

Meta

Mark Zuckerberg assured employees at an internal all-hands that job cuts are not planned. Still, Meta is perhaps the biggest company to have announced a hiring freeze for certain roles as it works to control its spending amid an “industry-wide downturn.”

On June 30, Zuckerberg reportedly told employees the company to slash its hiring goals for engineers by at least 30% this year and warned them to brace for “one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.” The hiring reductions will affect “almost every team across the company” and last for the rest of the year.

Spotify

Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, informed staff via email that the company would reduce hiring goals by 25%. Before this, CFO Paul Vogel stated that the company would evaluate headcount soon and is “clearly aware of the increasing uncertainty regarding the global economy”

End Of An Era: The Great Tech Expansion Takes A Hammering With A Layoff Spree
Tech layoffs 2022: Consumer-related tech companies took the biggest hit

Google

Following word that it would slow hiring and spending through the rest of the year, Alphabet-owned Google informed staff on July 20 that it is stopping hiring for two weeks. According to senior VP Prabhakar Raghavan, the hold won’t affect existing offers, but the business won’t make any new ones until the pause is through.

Will tech layoffs continue?

Over the past ten years, tech companies have experienced rapid expansion and exorbitant spending. However, given the impending global recession, which might be significantly longer and harsher than many think, Silicon Valley companies that announced large layoffs this week could be a leading indicator for the economy.

Tech companies may need to slow down their recent expansion and spending boom in favor of cost-cutting measures when possible due to the changing economic climate.

spot_img

Latest Intelligence

spot_img