Layoff Events

Salesforce is laying off around 700 employees in its most recent tranche of job cuts, adding to previous layoffs announced last year, as part of restructuring efforts amid economic uncertainty and investments in AI.

Productboard, a San Francisco-based software startup valued at $1.7 billion in 2022, has initiated its third round of layoffs in less than two years, as reported in late January 2024. While the exact number of employees affected in this latest reduction is not specified, the company previously cut 20% of its workforce in November 2022 and another 10% in August 2023. At its peak in spring 2022, Productboard employed over 500 people. The layoffs reflect broader challenges in the tech industry, where many pandemic-era startups are prioritizing sustainability over growth amid a tough economic climate with high interest rates and scarce IPO opportunities. Backed by prominent investors like Tiger Global and Sequoia, Productboard serves over 5,400 customers, including major firms such as Microsoft and Zoom.

Flexport representing approximately 20% of its workforce on 2024-01-26.

Salesforce laid off 700 employees representing approximately 1% of its workforce on 2024-01-26.

Amperity laid off 20 employees on 2024-01-25.

Jamf representing approximately 6% of its workforce on 2024-01-25.

Business Insider representing approximately 8% of its workforce on 2024-01-25.

Cova representing approximately 100% of its workforce on 2024-01-25.

MVPindex laid off 12 employees representing approximately 30% of its workforce on 2024-01-25.

Indian food delivery giant Swiggy is laying off approximately 400 employees, which represents nearly 7% of its workforce, as announced in January 2024. This marks the second such round of job cuts in about a year as the Bengaluru-based startup aggressively streamlines operations to improve its financial health ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO). Despite its core food delivery business being profitable, Swiggy is not yet profitable at the group level. The move comes amid intense competition with rival Zomato, which has recently become profitable and expanded its market share lead. With a valuation of $10.7 billion, Swiggy is under pressure to strengthen its metrics to secure a favorable valuation when it goes public.

Microsoft is laying off approximately 1,900 employees from its gaming division, which includes teams at Activision Blizzard, Xbox, and ZeniMax. This reduction, announced in late January 2024, represents about 8% of the Microsoft Gaming workforce, which totals around 22,000 employees. The layoffs are part of a broader strategy to integrate the recently acquired Activision Blizzard and align on a sustainable cost structure, eliminating areas of overlap. In addition to the job cuts, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra has departed, and a planned Blizzard survival game has been canceled.

In January 2024, logistics technology and last-mile delivery startup Veho laid off approximately 65 corporate employees, representing 19% of its corporate headcount. The company, which had over 910 total employees at the time, stated the cuts were part of a reorganization to improve efficiency, accelerate its path to profitability, and redirect investment toward client needs and growth. This move came despite Veho reporting nearly 90% revenue growth in 2023, following a period of rapid expansion and significant venture capital backing that had previously propelled it to a $1.5 billion valuation.

In January 2024, autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora Innovation laid off about 3% of its workforce, affecting dozens of employees. This followed an organizational review as the Pittsburgh-based firm, which employed roughly 1,800 people at the end of 2023, strives to streamline operations ahead of its planned commercial launch. Aurora is pushing to deploy up to 20 driverless trucks by the end of 2024, focusing initially on the Dallas-Houston freight route, while collaborating with Continental on mass-producing autonomous hardware. The layoffs reflect ongoing economic pressures and the high costs of developing safe self-driving technology, a challenge that has led to industry consolidation. Aurora, founded by veterans of Tesla, Uber, and Waymo, went public in 2021 to fund its ambitious goals in the competitive autonomous transportation sector.

HubSpot, a leading customer relationship management (CRM) software company, laid off approximately 20 content designers, as announced in a LinkedIn post. While the exact percentage of total employees affected is not specified, the layoffs represent a significant loss of specialized talent within the company's design and content teams. The post, shared by a former colleague, highlights the impacted individuals' expertise in product strategy, information architecture, and scalable content design, emphasizing their deep customer impact and collaborative skills. This move appears part of broader industry adjustments, though a specific reason for these layoffs at HubSpot was not detailed. The company operates in the competitive SaaS and marketing technology industry, serving a global customer base.

Desktop Metal representing approximately 20% of its workforce on 2024-01-24.

Storytel laid off 80 employees representing approximately 13% of its workforce on 2024-01-24.

Riot Games is laying off about 530 employees, representing 11% of its workforce, as announced on Monday. The company is also sunsetting its publishing group Riot Forge and reducing the team for Legends of Runeterra, citing organizational changes and performance issues.

Fintech startup Brex, valued at $12.3 billion in 2022, laid off 282 employees, representing about 20% of its workforce, on January 23, 2024. This significant staff reduction, affecting roughly 1,300 employees prior to the cuts, is attributed to stalled growth and a high cash burn rate, reportedly $17 million per month in late 2023. The company is restructuring its operations and compensation model to emphasize long-term ownership and financial sustainability. This marks the second major layoff for Brex, following an 11% reduction in October 2022. Concurrently, the company announced executive changes, including the COO transitioning to a board role.

TikTok laid off about 60 employees, mostly in sales and advertising, as part of a reorganization effort. The layoffs occurred amid slowing growth and the integration of TikTok Shop in the U.S., with the company citing these changes as reasons for the job cuts.

Austrian edtech unicorn GoStudent, backed by SoftBank and once valued at $3 billion, has conducted another round of layoffs, affecting over 100 employees. This follows previous cuts in late 2022 and is part of ongoing efforts to reduce costs and achieve profitability amid challenging market conditions. With a workforce exceeding 1,500, the layoffs represent a significant but unspecified percentage of its staff. CEO Felix Ohswald cited a need to further lower the company's burn rate, despite a 70% reduction already. The startup, which saw pandemic-driven growth, now faces pressure from high-interest rates and investor caution, mirroring broader tech industry trends.

American used-vehicle e-commerce company Vroom is laying off approximately 800 employees, representing about 90% of its total workforce, as part of a drastic restructuring announced on January 23, 2024. The company is discontinuing its online sales platform and winding down its used vehicle dealership business entirely. This decision follows a severe decline from its peak valuation of over $8 billion in 2020 to a market capitalization of just $75 million. Vroom will retain its automotive finance and AI analytics subsidiaries but will halt all vehicle purchases and sell off existing inventory through wholesale channels, effectively ending its core e-commerce operations in the competitive online used car market.

Creator economy startup Jellysmack laid off 30 employees in the US and France in December 2023, marking its third round of layoffs within a year. The cuts were part of a restructuring effort to focus on areas of traction and growth, particularly its technology and AI product offerings for creators. CEO Michael Philippe cited a contraction in monetization across platforms, driven by volatility in the digital ad market and a decrease in long-form distribution, as key reasons. The company, which helps creators distribute content on platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, aims to preserve its long-term health amid these challenges.

eBay announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, that it is laying off approximately 1,000 full-time employees, representing about 9% of its workforce. The e-commerce giant, headquartered in San Jose, California, is implementing these cuts as part of a broader organizational restructuring. CEO Jamie Iannone stated that the company's headcount and expenses had grown faster than its business, necessitating the move to become more focused and agile. The layoffs are part of a wider trend of downsizing in the tech industry in early 2024, driven by concerns over consumer spending and economic pressures. eBay will also reduce its contract workforce in the coming months.

GoTo laid off 29 employees on 2024-01-23.

In January 2024, the crowdfunding platform Seedrs, part of the US-based Republic group, laid off 15% of its European workforce, affecting approximately 15 employees. This restructuring follows challenging market conditions in startup fundraising over the past 18 months. As a result, Seedrs is closing its offices in Spain and Sweden to focus on more profitable areas and ensure a leaner operation, shifting away from recent market expansion efforts. Despite the office closures, the company will continue to support businesses across Europe.

SAP, the German software giant, announced a major restructuring plan on Tuesday that will affect over 7% of its global workforce, equating to approximately 8,000 employees out of its total of about 108,000. The company aims to manage this shift through voluntary buyouts and internal job changes, expecting its overall headcount to remain stable by the end of 2024. This move is part of SAP's strategy to accelerate growth and become more cloud-centric, heavily investing in artificial intelligence to drive future revenue. The restructuring reflects broader industry trends where tech companies are adjusting to economic pressures and shifting priorities, following similar actions by other major firms. SAP also revised its 2025 profit outlook due to the costs associated with this transformation.

Indonesian fintech unicorn Xendit has laid off approximately 5% of its workforce in Indonesia and the Philippines as part of a restructuring to support its long-term profitability strategy. The cuts, announced in January 2024, affect an unspecified number of employees from the company's total staff across the two countries. As a major player in the Southeast Asian digital payments industry, Xendit stated this difficult decision was necessary to streamline operations and ensure sustainable growth, following its previous significant funding rounds.

Riot Games laid off 530 employees representing approximately 11% of its workforce on 2024-01-22.

2U on 2024-01-22.

TikTok, the wildly popular video-sharing app, has laid off approximately 60 employees, primarily within its sales and advertising divisions across offices in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, and abroad. This represents a small fraction of its roughly 7,000 U.S. workforce and is part of a broader trend of tech industry layoffs in early 2024. A company spokesperson described the cuts as a routine reorganization to reduce costs and re-allocate resources. The move comes despite TikTok reporting strong growth, with over 150 million active U.S. users, and positions the ByteDance-owned company alongside other major tech firms like Google and Amazon that are restructuring, partly to focus investments on the competitive race to develop generative AI tools.

Google on 2024-01-22.

SolarEdge, a renewable energy company specializing in solar installation management systems, is laying off 900 employees, representing about 16% of its global workforce of approximately 5,500. This significant restructuring, announced in January 2024, is a direct response to a severe and unexpected drop in revenue. The company, which was recently part of the S&P 500, has seen its valuation plummet by 80% and anticipates its Q4 2023 revenue to be 55% lower than the previous quarter. The downturn is attributed to postponed orders and cancellations from European customers and distributors, high inventory levels, and a challenging macroeconomic environment where elevated interest rates have made financing renewable energy projects prohibitively expensive.

Wayfair, the online home goods retailer, announced on Friday that it is laying off approximately 1,650 employees, representing 13% of its global workforce. This includes a 19% reduction in its corporate team, with a focus on management and leadership positions. The company, which has implemented its third major restructuring since summer 2022, stated the move aims to streamline operations, cut management layers, and reduce costs after over-hiring during the pandemic-driven sales boom. The layoffs are expected to save Wayfair about $280 million. CEO Niraj Shah attributed the cuts to a need to align staffing with current business levels amid persistent weakness in the home goods category, following a period where annual sales doubled to $18 billion. The announcement comes amid a wave of layoffs in the retail sector, including recent cuts by Hasbro, Etsy, and Macy's.

Stitch Fix, the online personal styling service, is eliminating all full-time positions for its stylists and laying off 10 styling leaders as part of a broader cost-cutting effort. This shift to a fully part-time model, effective March 31, 2024, impacts about a quarter of its roughly 2,620 stylists who were previously full-time. The move comes as the apparel e-commerce retailer faces persistent challenges, including seven consecutive quarters of declining sales and a shrinking active client base. Despite making progress on reducing losses, the company is restructuring its styling workforce to further control expenses in a competitive retail industry.

B2B fashion startup Fashinza has laid off half of its workforce amid significant struggles to find a sustainable business model. The company, which operates in the fashion and manufacturing industry, has seen its gross merchandise value decline from $50 million to $40 million and stagnate over the past 18 months. This downsizing, part of broader organizational restructuring, comes as Fashinza has cycled through three different business models in just three years and faced a series of high-level executive departures. The layoffs, reported in early 2024, were implemented to reduce cash burn, which has been lowered from a peak of about Rs 8-9 crore monthly to around Rs 2.5 crore.

Amazon has laid off approximately 30 employees from its Buy with Prime division, affecting fewer than 5% of the unit's staff, as part of ongoing cost-cutting measures. This follows recent job reductions in other divisions like Prime Video, MGM Studios, Twitch, and Audible, continuing a series of layoffs that began in late 2022 and have totaled over 27,000 positions company-wide. Despite the cuts, Amazon states that Buy with Prime remains a priority and will continue to receive significant investment. The tech giant is assisting affected employees in finding new internal roles and providing pay, benefits, and severance packages.

Berlin-based food waste startup Sirplus has filed for insolvency in January 2024, leading to significant layoffs. The company, which employed around 100 people, was forced to let go of a substantial portion of its workforce after failing to secure necessary funding in a challenging market environment. Founded in 2017, Sirplus operated in the foodtech and sustainability sector, rescuing surplus food from producers and selling it through subscription boxes. The insolvency marks a setback for the impact-driven startup, which had partnered with hundreds of suppliers to combat food waste.

In January 2024, YouTube, the video-sharing platform owned by Google, announced layoffs affecting 100 employees. This move was part of a broader restructuring effort within Google to streamline operations and reallocate resources toward key product priorities. The cuts specifically targeted YouTube's creator management and operations teams. While impacted staff were given the opportunity to apply for other roles within the company, the layoffs reflect ongoing organizational changes across the tech industry. This event occurred amidst a series of job reductions at Google and other major tech firms in the early weeks of the year.

Japanese hoverbike start-up ALI Technologies has filed for bankruptcy in January 2024, effectively ending its operations and resulting in layoffs for its entire workforce. The company, which aimed to revolutionize urban transport with a $680,000 flying vehicle inspired by Star Wars, struggled from the start due to stringent regulations in Japan and elsewhere that prohibited such devices from flying over city roads. Despite high-profile publicity, including an appearance with Prince Albert II of Monaco, the hoverbike never achieved significant sales. Its U.S. parent company cited the bankruptcy as part of a planned relocation to California, where it hopes to revive the project with a new partner, but the move marks a major setback for the ambitious aerial mobility venture.

Google, a major tech company, is laying off several hundred employees from its advertising-sales team as part of a restructuring effort. The cuts, announced in January 2024, primarily affect the large-customer-sales unit, which serves bigger advertising clients. This move aligns with a shift in focus toward the Google customer-solutions team that handles medium-level clients, as larger clients now require fewer dedicated resources. The layoffs reflect ongoing changes in how Google's sales operations are organized, though the company states they are unrelated to its AI automation tools. While the exact percentage of total employees impacted isn't specified, the reductions number in the hundreds globally within the advertising division.

SonderMind, a mental health tech unicorn startup, laid off 17% of its workforce in January 2024. The company, which matches patients with local therapists, reduced staff as part of broader adjustments in the health tech industry. While the exact number of affected employees wasn't specified, the percentage indicates a significant restructuring for the company, reflecting ongoing challenges in the sector.

First Mode laid off 48 employees representing approximately 20% of its workforce on 2024-01-16.

Based on the provided text, there is no information about a layoff event at a company named "Thursday." The content appears to be a standard sign-up or login interface for LinkedIn, containing fields for email, password, and terms of service agreements. It does not mention any company layoffs, employee counts, dates, or industry details. Therefore, a summary of a layoff event cannot be generated from this material.

GrabCAD laid off 13 employees on 2024-01-12.

Vendr on 2024-01-12.

Instagram has cut 60 technical program manager positions, eliminating a layer of management as part of a reorganization to focus on new areas like Creation, Creators, and Friend Sharing, aligning with Meta's 'Year of Efficiency' initiative.

Hologram, a company in the IoT connectivity industry, conducted layoffs affecting over 30 employees, as announced in a LinkedIn post. The cuts impacted various departments including sales, product, design, customer success, and marketing. While the exact percentage of the workforce and total employee count were not specified, the layoffs were described as a response to challenging market conditions, with the post noting "a brutal market for us." The event occurred on a Friday, with the announcement made in early 2023. Hologram operates as a SaaS startup providing cellular connectivity for IoT devices, indicating it is a venture-backed, growth-stage company. The layoffs resulted in the departure of key personnel, such as the Head of Product and Design and a Sales Director, who had contributed significantly to the company's recent performance.

Despite achieving record market share and profitability in 2023, data protection company Veeam laid off approximately 300 employees in January 2024 as part of an organizational restructure. This follows a previous layoff of 200 staff in March 2023. With a total workforce of over 5,000 employees, this latest reduction impacts a significant portion of its staff. The company, a major player in backup and ransomware protection with over 450,000 customers, stated the move was to prioritize investments and transition roles, while also ramping up hiring in other areas. The context suggests cost-trimming efforts may be related to preparing for a potential future IPO.

Artifact, the news aggregation and social networking startup founded by Instagram's co-founders, is shutting down in early 2024, resulting in the layoff of its entire team. The company, which had scaled to a small team, decided to wind down operations after determining the market opportunity was insufficient to justify continued investment. Despite pivoting from a simple news reader to a more social, creator-focused platform with AI-powered features, it faced intense competition in a crowded space, including from Meta's Threads. Core news functions will remain available until the end of February, allowing users time to transition. This closure reflects broader challenges in the news aggregation and social media industry, where shifting user behaviors and the rise of AI are reshaping the landscape.

In January 2024, Pakistani B2B e-commerce startup Dastgyr made a significant strategic shift by laying off 80% of its workforce. This drastic reduction comes despite the company raising a substantial $37 million in Series A funding in mid-2022 for expansion. The move reflects a broader trend of strategic realignment within the tech industry, as companies like Daraz and Retailo Technologies also adjust to tough market conditions and economic challenges. For Dastgyr, this appears to be a pivot towards ensuring business sustainability and efficiency by focusing on core operations, highlighting the volatile nature of the startup ecosystem where rapid growth can be followed by swift adjustments.