Amazon, Meta, Twitter and other big US tech companies cutting thousands of jobs

Hewlett Packard has joined the ranks of businesses laying off staff as a slumping world economy affects the sector

Twitter has cut more than 3,000 jobs since Elon Musk purchased the social media company, with some of the firings happening in the eye of the public. 'Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,' Mr Musk tweeted. AFP

A robot retrieves a pallet of items for employees to sort at an Amazon warehouse. The e-commerce company plans to cut about 10,000 jobs and the lay-offs have started, chief executive Andy Jassy said. Bloomberg

Facebook parent Meta is cutting 11,000 jobs, the first major round of layoffs in the social-media company’s history. 'I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,' said Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, pictured. AP

Hewlett-Packard expects to cut up to 6,000 jobs by the end of the 2025 fiscal year, or about 12 per cent of its global workforce, as computer sales slide amid consumer budget constraints. AFP

Apple, the iPhone maker, has paused hiring for many jobs outside of research and development, an escalation of its plan to reduce budgets heading into next year. AFP

Digital banking start-up Chime Financial is cutting 12 per cent of its staff, or 160 people. A representative of the company said Chime remains well-capitalised and the move will position it for 'sustained success'. Reuters

Cisco Systems is beginning a restructuring plan that will affect about 5 per cent of employees. The company says it will incur pretax charges of about $600 million for severance, termination and other costs. The employees will be given a chance to move to other jobs within the company, chief financial officer Scott Herren said. AFP

Dapper Labs founder and chief executive Roham Gharegozlou said in a letter to employees that the company had laid off 22 per cent of its staff. He cited macroeconomic conditions and operational challenges stemming from the company’s rapid growth. Dapper Labs created the NBA Top Shot marketplace for nonfungible tokens, a digital asset class that has suffered a steep drop in demand since the cryptocurrency market downturn. Reuters

Intel is cutting jobs and slowing spending on new plants to save $3 billion next year, the chip maker said. The hope is to save as much as $10 billion by 2025. The headcount reduction could be in the thousands. Reuters

Lyft's cost-saving efforts include divesting its vehicle service business. It is eliminating 13 per cent of staff, or about 683 people. The company had already said it would freeze hiring in the US until at least next year. Reuters

Peloton laid off 500 employees globally, or about 12 per cent of the workforce, in October. It was the fourth time this year the company has cut staff. Along with other expense reduction measures, Peloton said the move will help it reach the break-even point on cash flow by the end of the 2023 fiscal year. Reuters

Qualcomm has frozen hiring in response to a faster-than-feared decline in demand for phones, which use its chips. It now expects smartphone shipments to decline in the double-digit per cent range this year, worse than the outlook it gave earlier. Reuters

Salesforce is focusing on margins as demand for its software products slows. The company has cut hundreds of workers from sales teams as it looks to improve profitability. Since 2017, Salesforce had almost tripled its workforce. AP

Payments company Stripe, one of the world’s most valuable start-ups, is cutting more than 1,000 jobs. The 14 per cent staff reduction will return its headcount to about 7,000. Co-founders Patrick, pictured, and John Collison told staff that they needed to trim expenses more broadly to prepare for 'leaner times'. Bloomberg

It has been a rough period for the US technology sector as companies cut staff or slow hiring amid rising interest rates and weak consumer spending.

Third-quarter earnings disappointed, with Amazon posting a more than 9.3 per cent drop in third-quarter net income and issuing disappointing fourth-quarter revenue guidance, while Meta reported a 52 per cent annual drop in third-quarter net profit.

The technology industry shed 9,587 jobs in October, the highest monthly total since November 2020, according to consulting company Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

PC maker Hewlett Packard on Tuesday said it would lay-off as many as 6,000 employees over the next three years.

HP, which has a payroll of about 61,000 people, said it aimed to secure $1.4 billion in annual savings through 2025.

The plan “will enable us to better serve our customers and drive long-term value creation by reducing our costs and reinvesting in key growth initiatives to position our business for the future”, HP chief executive Enrique Lores said.

Meanwhile, Twitter has gone through a tumultuous period in which half of its 7,500-strong employees were culled a few days after the social media platform was taken over by billionaire Elon Musk in late October.

See the slide show at the top for how many jobs have been cut across the big US technology companies.

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