Last year was a big year for tech layoffs, many of them subscription companies. 2023 is proving to be equally challenging as companies face higher costs, the need for restructuring, and an uncertain global economy. Those challenges often mean companies like Salesforce and Meta have to cut jobs along with other costs. These staff cuts also impact customers who may lose subscription products and services and who may not get the same level of customer service they are used to.
While it would be nearly impossible to capture all the layoffs that have been announced this year, this layoff roundup includes just over 60,000 job cuts and the elimination of 5,000 vacant positions. With the exception of Meta, this roundup does not include companies that announced layoffs late last year.
Disney
Under the leadership of (returning) CEO Bob Iger, The Walt Disney Company announced they were in the midst of a strategic restructuring that would include transitioning to three core divisions: Entertainment, ESPN and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products. The restructuring will also results in the elimination of 7,000 jobs, or about 3% of Disney’s total workforce of 220,000.
“For nearly 100 years, storytelling and creativity have fueled The Walt Disney Company, with virtually every interaction we have with our consumers emanating from something creative,” said Iger in a February 9, 2023 announcement. “I am committed to positioning this company for a new era of growth. Our strategic restructuring will return creativity to the center of the company, increase accountability, improve results, and ensure the quality of our content and experiences.”
Dotdash Meredith
Tech companies aren’t the only ones subject to staffing cuts. Media companies are feeling the pain too. Dotdash Meredith, owned by parent company IAC, will lay off 274 employees, approximately 7% of staff, reports Axios. Most departments will be impacted by the layoffs. The company also laid off about 5% of staff last year – or about 200 jobs – that supported the company’s print operations.
In January, Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai notified 12,000 staff via email that they would lose their jobs, representing about 6% of Google’s workforce, reports CNBC. Some Google layoffs would begin immediately, while those in other countries might take longer due to local laws and employment practices.
“Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth. To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,” Pichai wrote in the email, posted to Google’s blog. “I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI. To fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices.”
“So, we’ve undertaken a rigorous review across product areas and functions to ensure that our people and roles are aligned with our highest priorities as a company. The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review. They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions,” said the CEO.
Meta
In November 2022, Meta announced it would lay off more than 11,000 employees, or about 13% of the company’s workforce. Earlier this week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced 10,000 more jobs will be cut, and 5,000 open positions will be eliminated. This round of layoffs, while painful, is part of Zuckerberg’s 2023 theme – the year of efficiency.
“Over the next couple of months, org leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening our orgs, canceling lower priority projects, and reducing our hiring rates. With less hiring, I’ve made the difficult decision to further reduce the size of our recruiting team. We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April, and then our business groups in late May,” Zuckerberg said in a March 14 memo to employees, also posted online.
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The CEO said after restructuring, they will lift hiring and transfer freezes in each group and complete their analysis of the hybrid work model and make any needed changes.
“As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” Zuckerberg said.
“A leaner org will execute its highest priorities faster. People will be more productive, and their work will be more fun and fulfilling. We will become an even greater magnet for the most talented people,” added Zuckerberg. “We are a technology company, and our ultimate output is what we build for people. Everything else we do is in service of that.”
Microsoft
In January, Microsoft announced their plans to cut 10,000 jobs by the end of March, representing about 5% of the tech company’s total workforce of approximately 220,000.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees the company needed to align their costs with revenue and anticipated customer demand. He also said the company is allocating “capital and talent to areas of secular growth and long-term competitiveness for the company, while divesting in other areas.” He did not specify which divisions would be impacted.
In a memo to staff, Nadella wrote, “It’s important to note that while we are eliminating roles in some areas, we will continue to hire in key strategic areas. We know this is a challenging time for each person impacted. The senior leadership team and I are committed that as we go through this process, we will do so in the most thoughtful and transparent way possible.”
“These decisions are difficult, but necessary. They are especially difficult because they impact people and people’s lives—our colleagues and friends,” added Nadella.
These layoffs follow several rounds of layoffs in 2022.
NPR
In February, NPR announced it would lay off 10% of staff, about 100 employees, due to revenue declines caused by falling advertising and sponsorship revenue. In addition, the nonprofit media organization will cut unfilled positions. The company is trying to fill a budget shortfall between $30 million and $32 million.
“At a time when we are doing some of our most ambitious and essential work, the global economy remains uncertain. As a result, the ad industry has weakened and we are grappling with a sharp decline in our revenues from corporate sponsors,” CEO John Lansing wrote. “With approximately 65% of our budget supporting personnel costs, we will need to eliminate many of the vacant positions that have been frozen. We will also need to reduce filled positions by approximately 10%.”
Salesforce
Salesforce, the globally popular CRM company, kicked off the year by cutting 8,000 jobs and closing some of its offices. The cost of restructuring is estimated to be between $1.4 billion and $2.1 billion. In a filing with the SEC, Salesforce said they were restructuring to reduce costs, improve operating margins, and increase profitability. In a letter to employees dated January 4, Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff said the company needed to reduce its workforce because of the uncertainty of the economy.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how we came to this moment. 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,” wrote Benioff.
The company’s fiscal year 2023 ended on January 31, 2023. When the company reported its financials, they had an operating margin of 3.3% for the full-year, but their revenue results were strong. They reported total revenue for the year of $31.35 billion, an 18% increase year-over-year. Of that total, subscription and support revenue was $29.02 billion, also an 18% increase year-over-year. Professional services and other revenue made up the rest. Subscription and support revenue represent 92.6% of total revenue. The balance comes from professional services and other revenue. The company reported a net loss of $(0.10) diluted earnings per share.
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SiriusXM
Last week, satellite radio company SiriusXM announced they would lay off 475 employees, or about 8% of their total workforce. Almost every department will be impacted by the cuts. In addition to the job cuts, the company would reduce spending in content, marketing, real estate and place tighter restrictions on travel and entertainment spending. Following a companywide review of the business, SiriusXM Jennifer Witz was seeking areas where the company could be more efficient and agile.
“We are entering into a new phase for the company. The investments we are making in the business this year, coupled with today’s uncertain economic environment, require us to think differently about how our organization is structured,” Witz said.
“Over the past five years, our business has grown and expanded with the addition of new acquisitions, business lines, and revenue streams. Now, we have completed an assessment of our departments and functions to determine where we can improve collaboration, consolidate teams to achieve greater efficiencies, and ultimately, design an organization structure that is best positioned to achieve our priorities,” Witz said in her email to the company.
In the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 financials, SiriusXM reported that it ended the year with 32.4 million self-pay subscribers, an increase of 348,000. The company also owns Pandora which finished 2022 with 47.6 million monthly active users, some who subscriber and some who listen to the ad-supported version of Pandora.
After Elon Musk purchased Twitter last fall, there were multiple rounds of layoffs along with a handful of rehires. Late last month, Twitter laid off another 200 employees, about 10% of the company’s remaining 2,000 employees. his fourth round of layoffs contradicted Elon Musk’s promise in late November that no additional staff cuts were planned. When Musk took over Twitter in October, Twitter employed about 7,500. Layoffs and resignations reduced Twitter’s headcount to around 2,000 staffers.
Among those who lost their jobs were the founders of tech companies that Twitter acquired in recent years: Esther Crawford, founder of screen-sharing app Squad acquired in December 2020; Martin de Kujiper, the founder of newsletter platform Revue acquired in January 2021; and Haraldur Thorleifsson, founder of Ueno acquired in January 2021.
Vox Media
In January, Vox Media announced plans to lay off about 7% of its staff, approximately 133 people out of the company’s 1,900 employees. Layoffs impacted the revenue, editorial, operations and core services divisions. This was the company’s third round of layoffs in the last year, reported Axios.
“While we are 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,” said CEO Jim Bankoff.
The company also laid off 39 positions last summer as the ad market began softening. Last spring, Vox Media laid off 3% of its workforce after the completion of their merger with Group Nine Media.
Yahoo
Yahoo joins the ranks of tech companies laying off staff. In February, Yahoo announced they would lay off 50% of their ad tech division, representing 20% of the company’s total workforce, or about 1,600 employees, Axios reports. The layoffs began immediately with about 1,000 positions, or 12%, cut in the middle of February. The balance of the layoffs will occur in the second half of 2023.
“Despite many years of effort and investment, this strategy was not profitable and struggled to live up to our high standards across the entire stack,” a Yahoo spokesperson said in a statement. “These decisions are never easy, but we believe these changes will simplify and strengthen our advertising business for the long run, while enabling Yahoo to deliver better value to our customers and partners.”
Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone said the layoffs were not due to financial difficulties, but the company needs to restructure the company’s business ad division which is not profitable. Axios says that Yahoo is shutting down Yahoo for Business, their supply-side platform (SSP), where publishers can sell automated ads within their content.
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