PayPal is slashing 2,000 workers, amid a layoff wave that has expanded past tech to include bellwethers like Dow and 3M. Here's the full list of major US companies making cuts in 2023.
Paypal
- PayPal employees are the latest tech workers to be hit by a wave of layoffs.
- Over the past few weeks, layoffs have expanded outside of tech, media, and finance as Dow, 3M, and Stitch Fix announce cuts.
- See the full list of layoffs so far in 2023.
A wave of layoffs that hit dozens of US companies toward the end of 2022 shows no sign of slowing down into 2023.
On Tuesday, fintech giant PayPal announced that it would be cutting 2,000 employees, which is around 7% of the company's total workforce.
In a statement announcing the layoffs on PayPal's website, CEO and president Dan Schulman noted that the reductions will take place over the following weeks "with some organizations impacted more than others."
PayPal is one among several major corporations that have already made significant cuts in the new year: Fellow tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, and finance behemoths, like Goldman Sachs, announced massive layoffs in the first weeks of 2023 amid a continued economic downturn and stagnating sales.
The downsizing followed significant reductions at companies including Twitter and Meta late last year.
The layoffs have primarily affected the tech sector, which is now hemorrhaging employees at a faster rate than at any point during the pandemic, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to data cited by the Journal from Layoffs.fyi, a site tracking layoffs since the start of the pandemic, tech companies slashed more than 150,000 in 2022 alone — compared to 80,000 in 2020 and 15,000 in 2021.
The wave of mass layoffs is now expanding beyond tech and into economic bellwethers: industrial company 3M, and material company Dow recently announced cuts.
Here are the notable examples so far in 2023:
Paypal
PayPal announced on January 31 that it plans to cut 2,000 workers or approximately 7% of the company's total workforce over the coming weeks.
In a statement announcing the layoffs on PayPal's website, CEO and president Dan Schulman cited the "challenging macro-economic environment."
He added, "While we have made substantial progress in right-sizing our cost structure, and focused our resources on our core strategic priorities, we have more work to do."
Brian Ach / Stringer / Via Getty
IBM plans would cut 1.5% of its staff, roughly 3,900 workers.
The layoffs were first reported by Bloomberg but confirmed by Insider.
The company said the cuts would cost IBM about $300 million and is related entirely to businesses the company has spun off.
Bloomberg reports that CFO James Kavanaugh said the company is still hiring in "higher-growth areas."
Thomson Reuters
Hasbro reportedly plans to cut 1,000 workers after warning that the 2022 holiday season was weaker than expected, according to the toy and game company.
The company said the layoffs come as it seeks to save between $250 million to $300 million per year by the end of 2025.
"While the full-year 2022, and particularly the fourth quarter, represented a challenging moment for Hasbro, we are confident in our Blueprint 2.0 strategy, unveiled in October, which includes a focus on fewer, bigger brands; gaming; digital; and our rapidly growing direct to consumer and licensing businesses," Chris Cocks, Hasbro's CEO said.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
Dow Inc. announced on January 26 that it will lay off 2,000 global employees, a move that indicates mass layoffs are spreading beyond just the technology sector, the Wall Street Journal reported.
It's part of a $1 billion cost-cutting effort intended to help amid "challenging energy markets," Dow CEO Jim Fitterling said in a press release. The chemical company also will shut down select assets, mostly in Europe, per the release.
"We are taking these actions to further optimize our cost structure and prioritize business operations toward our most competitive, cost-advantaged and growth-oriented markets, while also navigating macro uncertainties and challenging energy markets, particularly in Europe," Fittlering said.
ULI DECK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Software company SAP said on January 26 it will slash up to 3,000 jobs globally in response to a profit slump, with many of the cuts coming outside of its headquarters in Berlin, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The layoffs will impact an estimated 2.5% of the company's workforce and are part of a cost-cutting initiative aiming at reaching an annual savings of $382 million in 2024, according to the Journal.
"The purpose is to further focus on strategic growth areas," said Luka Mucic, SAP's chief financial officer, per the Journal.
Greg Sandoval/Business Insider
In a memo to Spotify employees, CEO Daniel Ek said the company would cut 6% of its staff, about 600 people.
"While we have made great progress in improving speed in the last few years, we haven't focused as much on improving efficiency. We still spend far too much time syncing on slightly different strategies, which slows us down. And in a challenging economic environment, efficiency takes on greater importance. So, in an effort to drive more efficiency, control costs, and speed up decision-making, I have decided to restructure our organization," he wrote.
As part of the changes, Dawn Ostroff, the company's chief content and advertising officer, who spent more than $1 billion signing exclusive podcast deals with Joe Rogan, the Obamas, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has departed.
3M
3M, which makes Post-It notes, Scotch tape, and N95 masks, said it plans to cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs worldwide.
CEO Mike Roman called it "a necessary decision to align with adjusted production volumes."
"We expect macroeconomic challenges to persist in 2023. Our focus is executing the actions we initiated in 2022 and delivering the best performance for customers and shareholders," he said in a press release.
Brandon Wade/Reuters
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent company Alphabet, informed staffers on January 20 that the company will lay off 12,000 employees, or 6% of its global workforce.
In a memo sent to employees and obtained by Insider, Pichai said the layoffs will "cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions" and were decided upon after a "rigorous review."
Pichai said the company will hold a townhall meeting to further discuss the cuts, adding he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here"
"Over the past two years we've seen periods of dramatic growth," Pichai wrote in the email. "To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."
Vox Media
Vox Media, the parent company of publications like Vox, The Verge, New York magazine, and Vulture, is laying off roughly 133 people, or 7% of its staff, according to a report by Axios.
The cuts come just a few months after the media company laid off 39 roles in July.
The decision was reportedly announced in a note to staff from CEO Jim Bankoff, who wrote that while the company is "not expecting further layoffs at this time, we will continue to assess our outlook, keep a tight control on expenses and consider implementing other cost savings measures as needed," according to Axios.
Vox Media's layoffs come at a time when advertisers are tightening their belts in anticipation of an economic slowdown, taking a toll on the media industry.
Brian Ach/AP Images
Capital One slashed 1,100 technology positions on January 18, a company spokesperson told Insider. The cuts impacted workers in the "Agile job family," a department which was eliminated and its responsibilities integrated into "existing engineering and product manager roles," per the spokesperson.
"Decisions that affect our associates, especially those that involve role eliminations, are incredibly difficult," the Capital One spokesperson said in the statement.
"This announcement is not a reflection on these individuals or the work they have driven on behalf of our technology organization," the spokesperson continued. "Their contributions have been critical to maturing our software delivery model and our overall tech transformation."
The eliminations came after the bank had invested heavily in tech efforts in recent years, including launching a new software business focused on cloud computing in June 2022.
"This decision was made solely to meet the evolving skills and process enhancements needed to deliver on the next phase of our tech transformation," the spokesperson said.
Reuters
WeWork announced on January 19 it will cut about 300 positions as it scales back on coworking spaces in low-performing regions, Reuters reported. The layoffs come after the company said in November 2022 it planned to exit 40 locations in the US as part of a larger cost-cutting effort.
The company announced the cuts in a press release listing its fourth-quarter earnings call date, stating only the reductions are "in connection with its portfolio optimization and in continuing to streamline operations."
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Wayfair is expected to lay off more than 1,000 employees, about 5% of its workforce, in the coming weeks in response to slumping sales, the Wall Street Journal reported on January 19.
The cuts mark the second round of layoffs in six months for the online furniture and home goods company, after it nixed 900 staffers in August 2022.
Though the company experienced significant growth during the pandemic-driven home improvement boom, sales began to stagnate as social distancing policies loosened and Americans began returning to offices.
"We were seeing the tailwinds of the pandemic accelerate the adoption of e-commerce shopping, and I personally pushed hard to hire a strong team to support that growth. This year, that growth has not materialized as we had anticipated," Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah wrote in a letter to employees announcing the August 2022 layoffs, per CNN.
In its most recent quarter, the Wayfair reported that net revenue decreased by $281 million, down 9% from the same period the year prior.
Stephen Brashear/Getty Images
Microsoft announced on January 18 that it planned to reduce its workforce by 10,000 jobs by the end of the third quarter of this year.
CEO Satya Nadella attributed the layoffs to customers cutting back in anticipation of a recession.
However, Nadella also told workers that the company still plans to grow in some areas, despite the firings, writing that the company will "continue to hire in key strategic areas."
Microsoft's layoff announcement comes as the tech giant is reportedly in talks to invest $10 billion in OpenAI, which created the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
Crypto.com
Crypto.com announced on January 13 that it would let go of a fifth of its workforce amid a sagging crypto market and fallout from FTX's collapse.
This is the second major round of firings for Crypto.com, which also had layoffs in July.
"The reductions we made last July positioned us to weather the macro economic downturn, but it did not account for the recent collapse of FTX, which significantly damaged trust in the industry. It's for this reason, as we continue to focus on prudent financial management, we made the difficult but necessary decision to make additional reductions in order to position the company for long-term success," CEO Kris Marszalek wrote in a memo to employees.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
BlackRock is cutting up to 500 roles in its first round of firings since 2019.
Staff members were notified on January 11 about whether they were laid off.
"Taking a targeted and disciplined approach to how we shape our teams, we will adapt our workforce to align even more closely with our strategic priorities and create opportunities for the immense talent inside the firm to develop and prosper," CEO Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito wrote in a memo to employees.
Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Goldman Sachs began laying off employees on Jan. 11, with cuts expected to impact an estimated 6.5% of the company's global workforce — or roughly 3,200 staffers — a source told Insider.
The company previously slashed roles on its media and tech teams in September 2022, and it was expected to issue further reductions in the first half of January.
The cost-cutting efforts from the investment banking giant mirror reductions from competitors including Morgan Stanley and Citi, which also laid off employees in 2022.
"We continue to see headwinds on our expense lines, particularly in the near term," Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said at a conference in December. "We've set in motion certain expense mitigation plans, but it will take some time to realize the benefits. Ultimately, we will remain nimble and we will size the firm to reflect the opportunity set."
BNY Mellon
BNY Mellon is planning to cut approximately 3% of its workforce, or 1,500 jobs, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.
The cuts will be primarily aimed at talent management roles, according to the report. BNY Mellon will reportedly plan to invest more in junior staff.
Jerod Harris/Getty Images
Verily, which is Alphabet's healthcare unit, is laying off more than 200 employees, according to an email seen by the Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reports that the company will also scale down the number of projects it works on in an effort to cut costs.
"We are making changes that refine our strategy, prioritize our product portfolio and simplify our operating model," Verily's CEO, Stephen Gillet, wrote in the email, according to the Journal.
This is the first significant layoff done by Google's parent company, which had so far avoided the massive waves of job cuts done by other big tech giants like Amazon and Meta.
Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images
DirecTV employees were told in the first week of January that the company would lay off several hundred workers in management roles.
The satellite TV business has faced slowing revenues as more people choose to cut the cord and pay for streaming services over cable TV.
"The entire pay-TV industry is impacted by the secular decline and the increasing rates to secure and distribute programming. We're adjusting our operations costs to align with these changes and will continue to invest in new entertainment products and service enhancements," a spokesperson for DirecTV told Insider.
Patrick Fallon/Getty Images
Coinbase announced on Tuesday, Jan. 10, that would lay off another 20% of its staff.
The cuts came after the crypto company laid off over 1,000 employees in July.
In a memo to employees, CEO Brian Armstrong said, "in hindsight, we could have cut further at that time," referencing the layoffs in July.
Armstrong partially attributed the company's weakness to the "fallout from unscrupulous actors in the industry," likely referencing the alleged fraud that took place at FTX late last year under then-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Armstrong predicted "there could still be further contagion" from FTX in the crypto markets but assured remaining employees that Coinbase is well capitalized.
Amazon
Amazon is in the midst of the most significant round of layoffs in the company's history.
In a memo to employees, CEO Andy Jassy said the company would cut more than 18,000 workers in total — far more than what was initially expected based on reporting by the New York Times.
Jassy cited "the uncertain economy" and rapid hiring as reasons for the layoffs.
While most of Amazon's 1.5 million staff have warehouse jobs, the layoffs are concentrated in Amazon's corporate groups.
Amazon's layoffs began late last year, though the Wall Street Journal reports cuts will continue through the first few weeks of 2023.
Amazon's 18,000 jobs cuts are the largest of any major tech company amid the wave of recent layoffs.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff announced on Jan. 4 that the software company plans to layoff 10% of its workforce — an estimated 7,000 employees — and close select offices as part of a restructuring and cost-cutting plan.
"The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions," Benioff wrote in an email to staff. "With this in mind, we've made the very difficult decision to reduce our workforce by about 10 percent, mostly over the coming weeks."
He continued: "As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we're now facing, and I take responsibility for that."
Lars Ronbog/Getty Images for Copenhagen Fashion Summit
Everlane is slashing 17% of its 175-person corporate workforce, and 3% of its retail staff.
"We know there will be some bumpiness over the next few weeks as we navigate a lot of change at once. We ask for your patience as we do right by our departing team members," CEO Andrea O'Donnell wrote to employees, according to an internal memo seen by Insider.
In a statement to Insider, a company spokesperson said the decision was intended to "improve profitability in 2023 and continue our efforts to help leave the fashion industry cleaner than we found it."
The e-commerce clothing company previously laid off nearly 300 workers, mostly in retail in March 2020 amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud told employees on Jan. 4 that the company would layoff 11% of its staff, the video platform's second major round of layoffs in less than a year, after cutting 6% of employees in July
"This was a very hard decision that impacts each of us deeply," Sud wrote in an email to staff. "It is also the right thing to do to enable Vimeo to be a more focused and successful company, operating with the necessary discipline in an uncertain economic environment."
A spokesperson told Insider reduction is intended to assist with ongoing economic concerns and improve the company's balance sheet.
Compass
Compass CEO Robert Reffkin told staffers on Jan. 5 it would conduct more layoffs, following two previous rounds in the past eight months, as the brokerage continues to struggle with significant financial losses.
"We've been focused over the last year on controlling our costs," Reffkin wrote in an email to employees. "As part of that work, today we reduced the size of some of our employee teams. While decisions like these are always hard, they are prudent and allow us to continue to build a long-term, successful business for all of you."
While the size of the layoffs was not immediately disclosed, the brokerage let go of 450 corporate employees in June 2022, followed by an additional 750 people from its technology team in October 2022.
SOPA Images
Stitch Fix announced on Jan. 5 that it plans to slash 20% of its salaried workforce, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The cuts come in tandem with the announcement that CEO Elizabeth Spaulding is stepping down, after less than 18 months at the helm of the struggling retail company.
"First as president and then as CEO, it has been a privilege to lead in an unprecedented time, and to chart the course for the future with the Stitch Fix team," Spaulding said in a statement. "It is now time for a new leader to help support the next phase."
Stitch Fix founder Katrina Lake — who formerly served as chief executive and sits on the board of directors — will become interim CEO, the company said in a press release.
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