- Last year’s job cuts weren’t the end of layoffs. Further reductions have begun in 2024.
- Companies like Amazon, BlackRock, Nike, Intel, and Citigroup have announced plans for cuts this year.
- See the full list of corporations reducing their worker numbers in 2024.
A slew of companies across the tech, media, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts to staff in 2023. Tech titans like Google and Meta, finance giants like Goldman Sachs, and manufacturers like Dow all announced layoffs.
2024 is already looking grim. And it’s only February.
Thirty-eight percent of business leaders surveyed by ResumeBuilder think layoffs are likely at their companies this year, and around half say their companies will implement a hiring freeze. ResumeBuilder talked to around 900 leaders at organizations with more than 10 employees. Half of those surveyed cited concerns about a recession as a reason.
Another major factor: artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 respondents said they’ll conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI, with Dropbox, Google, and IBM have already announced job cuts for that very reason.
Here are 22 companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.
Google laid off hundreds more workers in 2024.
Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant.
In an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. According to the email, April 9 will be the last day for those unable to secure a new position.
The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6% reduction of its global workforce (about 12,000 people) last January.
Discord is laying off 170 employees.
Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason Citron.
“We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020,” Citron said in the memo. “As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated.”
In August, Discord reduced its headcount by 4%. According to CNBC, the company was valued at $15 billion in 2021.
Citi will cut 20,000 from its staff as part of its corporate overhaul.
The layoffs are part of a larger Citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180,000 — excluding its Mexico operations.
In an earnings call in January, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to $2.5 billion after it suffered a “very disappointing” final quarter last year.
‘Several hundred’ jobs are being cut at Amazon Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios.
This year’s cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company’s history. In 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers.
Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, said in an email to employees that “several hundred roles” would be slashed to refocus on more profitable products.
“We’ve identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact,” Hopkins told employees.
The same day, Amazon-owned Twitch also announced job cuts.
Twitch announced that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of employees at the live-streaming company.
CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is “meaningfully” bigger than necessary.
“As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible,” Clancy wrote. “Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch.”
Nike’s up-to-$2 billion cost-cutting plan will involve severances.
Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike’s stock plunging.
“We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world,” Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in December.
BlackRock is planning to cut 3% of its staff.
Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, and Rob Kapito, the firm’s president, announced that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20,000.
However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.
“As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources,” the company leaders said in a memo.
Rent the Runway is slashing 10% of its corporate jobs as part of a restructuring.
The fashion company’s COO and president, Anushka Salinas, will also be leaving the company, Fast Company reported.
Unity Software is eliminating 25% of its workforce.
Around 1,800 jobs at the video game software company will be affected by the layoffs, Reuters reported.
eBay is cutting 1,000 jobs.
The eBay layoffs will affect about 9% of the company’s workforce, CEO Jamie Iannone told employees in a memo.
Iannone told employees that layoffs were necessary as the company’s “overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business.”
The company also plans to scale back on contractors.
Microsoft is reducing its headcount by 1,900 at Activision, Xbox, and ZeniMax.
Nearly three months after Microsoft acquired video game firm Activision Blizzard, the company announced layoffs in its gaming divisions. The layoffs mostly affect employees at Activision Blizzard.
“As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a memo obtained by The Verge.
Salesforce is cutting 700 employees across the company, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Salesforce layoffs will affect 1% of its global workforce, but the company still has 1,000 job opportunities posted, The Journal reported.
Flexport will reportedly lay off 20% of its workers.
US logistics startup Flexport will cut 20% of its estimated 2,600 employees over the next few weeks, The Information reported.
With founder and CEO Ryan Petersen back at the helm since September, Flexport initiated a 20% reduction in October.
Flexport kicked off 2024 with the announcement that it raised $260 million from Shopify and made “massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability.”
iRobot is laying off around 350 employees and founder Colin Angle will step down as chairman and CEO.
The company behind the Roomba Vacuum announced layoffs around the same time Amazon decided not to go through with its proposed acquisition of the company, the Associated Press reported.
UPS will cut 12,000 jobs in 2024.
The UPS layoffs will affect 14% of the company’s 85,000 managers and could save the company $1 billion in 2024, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during an earnings call in January.
Paypal CEO Alex Chriss announced the company would lay off 9% of its workforce.
This round of layoffs will affect about 2,500 employees at the payment processing company.
“We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth,” CEO Alex Chriss wrote in a memo. “At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth.”
Okta is cutting roughly 7% of its workforce.
The digital-access-management company announced its plans for a “restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company’s commitment to profitable growth” in an SEC filing in February.
The cuts will impact roughly 400 employees.
Okta CEO Todd McKinnon told staff in a memo that “costs are still too high,” CNBC reported.
Snap has announced more layoffs.
The company behind Snapchat announced in February that it’s reducing its global workforce by 10%, according to an SEC filing.
Estée Lauder said it will eliminate up to 3,100 positions.
The cosmetics company announced Monday that it would be cutting 3% to 5% of its roles as part of a restructuring plan.
Estee Lauder reportedly employed about 62,000 employees around the world as of June 30, 2023.
DocuSign is eliminating roughly 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.
The company said in an SEC filing in early February that most of the cuts will be in its sales and marketing divisions.
Zoom is slashing 150 jobs.
The latest reduction amounts to about 2% of its workforce.
Paramount Global is laying off 800 employees days after record-breaking Super Bowl.
On Tuesday, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish sent a memo to employees announcing that 800 jobs — about 3% of its workforce — were being cut.
Deadline obtained the memo less than a month after reporting plans for layoffs at Paramount. The announcement comes on the heels of Super Bowl LVIII reaching record-high viewership across CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon, and Univision.
