Tyson is one of the biggest meat processing companies in the country, but even they are struggling to stay afloat right now. At the end of April 2023, Tyson announced that they would be cutting roughly 25% across corporate and senior roles with the company, but they made no mention of how many employees that would be.
When announcing the cuts to jobs, Tyson CEO Donnie King said, "While we have made progress on our strategy, fully realizing the opportunity ahead requires continuing to align our business and our priorities to enable long-term success of the enterprise." According to the most recent earning reports, Tyson saw a 70% drop in earnings from last year.
Walmart is a major retailer that sells (usually affordably) basically anything a person could possibly need. However, leadership from the company warned that the year ahead will be a tough one for the company. In April of 2023, it was announced that Walmart would be laying off more than 2000 workers.
These workers come from around the country, but all work at warehouses that Walmart uses to fulfill their online orders. According to Walmart, this was done to "better prepare for the future needs of customers," which sounds like business speak for announcing that their online presence isn't doing well.
It's been a rough year for Tuesday Morning, and it seems like they just lost the battle to stay in business. The discount merchandise business started the year by announcing mass closures of its stores across the country. Then, at the end of April 2023, the store announced they were going out of business and that all stores would be closing down.
While the exact timeline for closures is still unknown, Tuesday Morning has warned customers that their gift cards will stop working by May 13th and that the closures themselves will take place in the weeks following. Roughly 200 Tuesday Morning stores remain in the country at this time.
All sorts of companies have been negatively affected by the recent business downturn, including the financial services behemoth Morgan Stanley. They recently announced plans to cut more than 3,000 jobs by the end of the second quarter of 2023. That accounts for about 5% of the business's workforce.
While the company hasn't made its specific reasons for the layoffs public, the CEO, James Gorman, has recently mentioned that many of the company's main activities, like underwriting and mergers, have slacked off in the past few months, and he doesn't expect them to resurge anytime soon.
Since September of 2022, Gap has been cutting positions across the company in an attempt to save money. As of now, roughly 2000 jobs at Gap have been eliminated, with a majority of the cuts taking place across upper management at their corporate headquarters. The company hopes it will save them more than $300 million.
According to Gap chairman and CEO Bob Martin, Gap is "taking the necessary actions to reshape Gap Inc. for the future — simplifying and optimizing our operating model, elevating creativity, and driving better delivery in every dimension of the customer experience."
The specifics behind the layoffs at weight-loss company Jenny Craig haven't been publicly announced, but it's clear that trouble is on the horizon for this once-popular company. On April 27th, the company announced to its employees that they would be "winding down" the physical Jenny Craig locations in the coming months.
The company went on to announce that it was in the process of finding a buyer and that the sale "will likely impact all employees in some manner." According to the memo obtained by NBC news, the message concluded, saying, "As a result, we would suggest that you anticipate that your employment may be impacted and begin to seek other employment."
The conglomorate 3M is responsible for the creation of so many popular products that it would be near-impossible to list them all. However, some of their biggest sellers include Post-It Notes and Scotch Tape. Despite being a massive business, 3M has fallen on hard times to and has announced more than 6,000 layoffs this year.
According to the company's CEO, Mike Roman, the layoffs will affect roughly 10% of 3M's workforce and save around $800 million dollars for the company. This second round of layoffs in 2023 comes on the heels of a January announcement cutting around 2500 jobs in the company's manufacturing division.
In early 2023, Lyft got a new CEO and, since taking the position, he's made some ruthless cuts in an attempt to make the company more profitable. At the end of April 2023, Lyft announced that they would be cutting a little over 1,000 jobs in the company's corporate division, which equates to roughly 26% of the company.
In addition to layoffs, Lyft has also scaled back on its hiring and has stopped looking for employees in 250 open positions. According to a release from a Lyft spokesman, "[The CEO] has made clear to the company that his focus is on creating a great and affordable experience for riders and improving drivers' earnings."
Whole Foods is famous for its wide array of natural and healthy (and overpriced!) grocery goods, but recently, the company has found itself in a little bit of financial trouble. While major layoffs for grocery store workers don't seem to be on the table at this point, the same can't be said for Whole Foods' corporate employees.
According to a recent announcement from the company, Whole Foods will soon be laying off "several hundred" workers in the business's corporate division. While they did not give a specific number of cuts, they went on to say that the layoffs represent less than .5% of employees.
While BuzzFeed might be most famous for its pointless, nonsensical lists and quizzes, they actually had a news department at one point—"had" being the key word in that sentence. On April 20th, 2023, the internet giant announced that the company would be shuttering the BuzzFeed News division entirely.
This closure amounted to 180 layoffs, which is roughly 15% of BuzzFeed's entire workforce. In a memo to employees, CEO Jonah Peretti took responsibility for the failure of BuzzFeed News, saying, "I could have managed these changes better as the CEO of this company and our leadership team could have performed better despite these circumstances."
Things are definitely not going well for wedding retailer David's Bridal, as they recently announced massive cuts to the company. According to a notice filed in mid-April 2023, David's Bridal has plans to cut almost 10,000 jobs, which is an overwhelming majority of the estimated 12,000 employees the company currently has.
Additionally, the company is in the midst of filing for bankruptcy and finding a buyer, which means that the history of David's Bridal could quickly be coming to an end entirely. The company didn't have much publicly to say, only remarking that "We are evaluating our strategic options and a sale process is underway."
Video game giant Electronic Arts recently announced that about 6% of its staff (or roughly 750 employees) will be let go in the near future. It's anticipated that the layoffs will run at least through 2023, if not longer. The specifics of the layoff are unknown but have to do with making the company more profitable.
In a March 2023 message to employees, CEO Andrew Wilson had this to say: "As we drive greater focus across our portfolio, we are moving away from projects that do not contribute to our strategy, reviewing our real estate footprint, and restructuring some of our teams."
2023 has not been a great year for Amazon employees. In January, the online retailer first announced more than 18,000 layoffs across the company. However, Amazon wasn't done making difficult cuts. In March of 2023, the company announced yet another 9,000 layoffs affecting employees, for a total of more than 27,000 cut jobs.
According to a memo sent to employees by CEO Andy Jassy, most of these cuts would fall on employees working in web services, advertising, and the Twitch platform. He went on to say that the layoff announcements this year were staggered to ensure that the company could do thorough financial analyses.
Sirius XM was, at one point, the radio of the future. However, it seems like even satellite radio might be going the way of the dinosaurs. In March 2023, the company announced that they were cutting about 8% of their workforce, which equates to about 750 employees total.
According to CEO Jennifer Witz, these cuts are not restricted to a particular department but rather will affect "nearly every department" in some way or another. While the CEO's memo was light on specifics, she mentions making these cuts in the name of keeping the company profitable.
In early February, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the company would be undergoing massive layoffs. Specifically, he unveiled plans to cut more than 7,000 positions across the company in order to save more than $5 billion in the coming years. The announcement came only a few months after Iger returned to lead the company.
In the memo, Iger said, "While this is necessary to address the challenges we are facing today, I do not make this decision lightly. I have enormous respect and appreciation for the talent and dedication of our employees worldwide and I am mindful of the personal impact of these changes."
Google laid off nearly 12,000 employees in January 2023. Now, the tech giant is at it again, laying off hundreds of workers so far this year in 2024. The layoffs center mainly on the central engineering division and hardware teams. It’s hard to believe that a company as large and integral in our everyday lives would be forced to make cutbacks.
Some employees affected by the layoff received an email from the company encouraging them to apply for open positions at Google in order to remain employed. According to the email, April 9th is the deadline for employees to secure a new position. This tactic seems like it could easily be a slap in the face for current employees.
Tech seems to be taking a serious hit lately, with other companies also forced into layoffs. In February 2024, Snapchat parent Snap Inc. announced a reduction of their workforce by 10%, about 540 employees. The layoffs come as the social media company is attempting to cut costs and become profitable once again in a difficult market.
In an SEC filing, Snap explained their decision by saying, “In order to best position our business to execute on our highest priorities, and to ensure we have the capacity to invest incrementally to support our growth over time, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our team.”
Estée Lauder, in February 2024, announced the elimination of up to 3,100 jobs from the company. As part of a restructuring plan, 3%-5% of the cosmetics company’s global workforce will be cut. This new plan aims to increase profits. These layoffs are set to take place in July and come following several weak quarters.
The company blames a challenging international market. Estée Lauder said in a statement, “Organic net sales fell, reflecting the expected challenges in Asia travel retail as well as ongoing softness in overall prestige beauty in mainland China. The decrease also reflects a 1% headwind due to business disruptions in Israel and other parts of the Middle East.”
Yet another restructuring plan is to blame for massive layoffs at Citigroup. Citigroup plans to eliminate 20,000 jobs by the end of 2026 as part of its corporate overhaul. The bank experienced its worst quarter in 15 years at the end of 2023, reporting a $1.8 billion net loss.
CEO Jane Fraser is the driving force behind these changes, hoping that a new arrangement of leadership and accountability will boost the share price. Despite the disappointment of 2023, Fraser believes 2024 will be a “turning point year,” telling reporters so on a call in January. Severance pay and reorganization costs are expected to reach up to $1 billion.
American Airlines has announced plans to lay off 656 employees, about 8.2% of its customer service-related positions. They are seeking to reorganize and improve their customer service team in order to serve customers better. In a statement to USA Today, the airline stated its intentions of creating a new Customer Success team to address customer needs.
Carolyne Truelove, American Airlines Vice President of Reservations and Service Recovery, spoke to Dallas News about the reasoning behind their plans for reorganizing their customer service team: “We are laser-focused on improving your customer experience. With that focus is digging deep into where we have customer pain points.”
In January 2024, Wayfair announced its plans to cut about 13% of its global workforce, totaling up to 1,650 employees. The choice to lay off so many employees is projected to save the company over $280 million annually, but the timing couldn’t be worse. The announcement came a month after Wayfair CEO and co-founder Niraj Shah told employees to work longer hours in an end-of-year memo.
Following the announcement, Shah stated in a news release that, "The changes announced today reflect a return to our core principles on resource allocation, such as getting fit on spans and layers as well as focusing on our highest priorities.”
In January 2023, BlackRock–the world’s largest asset manager–laid off about 3% of its total workforce and is planning to do it again. The company plans to lay off another 3%, roughly 600 employees. This doesn’t represent the fall of the entire company. On the contrary, BlackRock plans to expand in other areas due to growth in overseas markets.
CEO Larry Fink and President Rob Kapito wrote in an internal memo, “We see our industry changing faster than at any time since the founding of BlackRock. As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources.”
Okta, a digital access management company, announced layoffs for 400 employees, roughly 7% of its total workforce, in February 2024. This makes yet another victim in the tech industry. The cut in the company’s workforce comes nearly a year after the last round of layoffs, where 300 people were left without work.
In an SEC filing, Okta described “a restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company’s commitment to profitable growth.” Okta chief executive Todd McKinnon explained in an email to employees that “costs are still too high” and investments needed to be diverted elsewhere in order to be profitable.
Unity Software has experienced a difficult year, and things aren’t looking up any time soon. In May 2023, Unity laid off 600 employees, about 8% of its workforce. In January 2024, the video game company announced plans to eliminate roughly 1,800 jobs, 25% of its workforce.
This follows cuts made by other game companies in the recent year. The decision comes as part of a corporate restructuring plan, along with plans for an assessment of its product portfolio and a financial evaluation. Unity explained in a regulatory filing that they are unable to “reasonably estimate the costs and charges in connection with this reduction.”
In 2024, eBay has announced plans to lay off about 1,000 employees, 9% of its full-time workforce. The online marketplace has also stated that it will be scaling back on contractors. These decisions come at a time of rising competition and declining consumer spending as an attempt to boost performance.
CEO Jamie Iannone stated in a memo that “While we are making progress against our strategy, our overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business. To address this, we’re implementing organizational changes that align and consolidate certain teams to improve the end-to-end experience, and better meet the needs of our customers around the world.”
In 2023, Microsoft made some big moves by acquiring Activision Blizzard, which was one of the largest tech deals in history. So, while the company seems to be thriving, that doesn’t mean much for the employees. In January 2024, Microsoft announced plans to lay off 1,900 employees, about 8% of its video gaming staff, at Activision Blizzard and Xbox.
In a released memo, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said, "As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business.” The layoffs make up less than 1% of Microsoft’s total workforce.
Salesforce is a cloud-based software company, and yet another representation of the struggles in the tech industry. The company reportedly plans to lay off about 700 employees, 1% of its workforce in 2024. This comes after a serious overhaul in 2023, where the company cut 8,000 jobs, making up 10% of its workforce.
Although the last year makes it look like the tech giant is taking a nose-dive, the company still has 1,000 job postings up online. It’s possible they are focusing on redirecting their funds. Even so, joining the team at this time doesn’t seem like the most stable move for individuals looking for work.
US logistics startup Flexport has been facing significant cuts as founder Ryan Petersen has returned as CEO. In October 2023, he cut 20% of the workforce (roughly 600 employees), and Flexport just announced plans to do it again in the first few weeks of February 2024. Yet another 20% of the company’s workforce is facing layoffs.
Petersen is working towards a return to profitability. The serious restructuring the company is undergoing is part of this plan. Flexport also just announced they had raised an additional $260 million in funding from Shopify, pushing them in the right direction toward profitability.
PayPal, a multinational digital payment company, announced at the end of January 2024 that the company would be reducing its global workforce by 9%, which means cutting 2,500 jobs. This comes after the company dismissed 2,000 people at the beginning of 2023, as well.
CEO Alex Chriss released a memo explaining the reasoning behind the layoffs, saying, “We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth. At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth.”
The United Postal Service faced a very difficult 2023, with their profits taking a significant hit. As a direct result, UPS will be cutting 12,000 jobs worldwide, about 14% of the company’s workforce. Reportedly, this will save the company $1 billion in 2024.
CEO Carol Tome spoke on a conference call about UPS’s difficulties and plans for rebuilding: "Some of this performance was due to the macro environment, and some of it was due to the disruption associated with our labor contract negotiations, as well as higher costs associated with the new contract…We are going to fit our organization to our strategy and align our resources against what's wildly important.”
