Tech Layoffs Exceed December Total In Just Six Days Of January 2023 - Details

A significant portion of this statistic comes from Amazon.com Inc's decision to lay off more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction. The Jeff Bezos-owned company has now surpassed the 11,000 cuts announced last year by Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.

Companies including Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com, Twitter Inc and Snap Inc have together cut over 97,000 jobs in 2022 as organisations grapple with a slowing economy and shareholder pressures. The number is up 649% from 2021. And if this week is any indication, the situation is only getting worse. 

Data from Layoffs Tracker indicates that a total of 30,611 people from 30 companies have been fired in the first six days of January. Apart from Amazon, the list includes video hosting platform Vimeo, tech giant Salesforce, Crypto exchange Huobi and several others. 

Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud announced via LinkedIn two days ago that the company would be laying off 11% of its staff amid ‘difficult times’. Leading crypto exchange Huobi is looking to layoff around 20% of its workforce. Meanwhile real estate brokerage Compass Inc. has also announced further layoffs - its third such round in recent days. 

After a half-decade of fast hiring and large acquisitions, another tech giant also announced plans to lay of thousands of workers this week. Salesforce said in a regulatory filing that around 10% of its 80,000 strong workforce would be laid off. The number is less than half of the employees hired in the pandemic and follows the announced exit in December of co-CEO Bret Taylor and the elimination of hundreds of sales positions in November.

Tech giant Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet have also hinted at cost-cutting measures, including layoffs.

(With inputs from agencies)