Meta, Twitter, Apple and more: Tech firms pile on the layoffs, freeze new hires

Following Elon Musk's dramatic Twitter takeover, nearly 50 per cent of their 7,500-strong staff were fired on Friday. A report followed that Meta, Facebook's parent firm, would begin begin large-scale layoffs this week. Tech firms have seen major stock slumps and layoffs have been announced at almost all of the major technology firms. Now, the tech companies face a different economic reality. More than 104,000 startup workers have lost their jobs so far this year, surpassing the roughly 81,000 posts shed in 2020.

The pandemic cuts may not compare to the current situation. As soon as people started working from home and isolating, they turned to tech companies' products for remote work, food delivery and social connection, spurring significant growth. Here's a look at all the announcements made so far.

Meta Platforms Inc., the owner of Facebook and Instagram, is poised to cut thousands of workers this week, the Wall Street Journal reported. Job cuts in the technology industry are accelerating, nearing levels seen in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, as companies both large and small curtail ambitions and brace for tough times ahead.

Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday, NYT reported, that it would pause adding new corporate workers, citing an “uncertain” economy and its hiring boom in recent years.

Intel Corp. announced that they will be cutting jobs, expected to be in the thousands, and restricting spending on new plants.

Microsoft, the technology mammoth, reportedly cut 1,000 jobs in October. In recent earnings reports, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft Corp. and others fell short of projections, sending shares plunging and shaving hundreds of millions to billions of dollars from their market valuations.

Ride-hailing platform Lyft also announced that it would freeze hiring in the US, until next year. Media reports said the company announced a 13 per cent cut in workforce, nearly 700 staff.

Stripe, which offers a payment processing platform, announced that it would cut 14 per cent of their current workforce. However, Stripe said that the layoffs would be communicated with employees in one-on-one meetings. Twitter's decision to inform employees over email had garnered widespread criticism.

Euro News reported that Apple announced that it “paused almost all hiring”, a decision which the company said could last until late 2023. Apple shares fell 11 per cent last week, the biggest weekly drop for the iPhone maker since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

While layoffs bring economic pain to households, investors tend to look favorably on them because they mean lower costs and higher profits. Meta rose 3.7% after the report and the Nasdaq 100 was up 0.6% on Monday.