Massive job cuts among large U.S. technology companies have taken on new intensity in the last week, following the announcement of thousands of layoffs by Microsoft and Google, and the announcement of the departure of thousands of workers at Amazon, in response to weakening activity following the pandemic-driven hiring boom.
Thus, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, was the latest of the big tech companies to announce a massive workforce adjustment, announcing on Friday that it will cut around 12,000 jobs worldwide, close to 6% of the total, to address the weakening economic conditions.
«We have decided to reduce our workforce by approximately 12,000 positions,» confirmed the company’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, who explained that in the last two years the multinational had undertaken a hiring policy «to match and fuel» the spectacular growth experienced in that period. «We hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today,» he acknowledged.
Previously, last Wednesday, it was Microsoft that announced that it will undertake a series of measures in response to macroeconomic conditions, including cutting about 10,000 jobs, just under 5% of its workforce, assuming an extraordinary adverse impact of 1.2 billion dollars (1,109 million euros) in its accounts for the second fiscal quarter, which will be announced on January 24.
That same day, as reported by the US press, the e-commerce giant Amazon began notifying workers affected by a new round of layoffs, which added to the adjustment at the end of last year, will reach 18,000 jobs.
The latest job cuts among US technology companies reflect the cooling of the sector, after years of record activity as a result of the momentum derived from the Covid-19 containment measures and new consumer habits, in addition to the impact of price and cost developments.
Thus, in the last part of last year several companies in the sector had already announced massive layoffs, such as Meta, owner of Facebook, Whatsapp and Instagram, which announced a cut of 11,000 jobs last November, about 13% of its global workforce.
Likewise, other multinationals had communicated the departure of thousands of workers, including Salesforce, with about 7,000 workers, about 10% of its workforce; Twitter, about 3,700 jobs; Stripe, about 1,100 workers; Shopify and Snap, about a thousand each; the broker Robinhood, another 1,100 jobs.
On its side, in addition to the crisis in the technology sector, the so-called ‘cryptowinter’ following the default of the Three Arrows fund and the bankruptcy of the FTX platform has triggered a domino effect with the declaration in suspension of payments of several entities linked to crypto assets, as well as the blocking of withdrawals and layoffs.
In this regard, firms such as Crypto.com have announced the suspension of half a thousand jobs, while the Coinbase platform will eliminate 950 jobs, after cutting another 900 last summer.
In turn, Silvergate Capital will carry out a workforce adjustment that will affect 40% of its employees, which will mean the departure of about 200 people after suffering a massive outflow of deposits in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
