More layoffs in the tech sector are making their rounds in the headlines. Tech jobs can have a significant impact on commercial real estate.
Layoffs can lead to real estate vacancies and decreased economic activity in a market. Here are the biggest announcements so far:
1. Amazon – 18,000
Revised upwards from the announcement of 10,000 layoffs, Amazon plans to lay off more than 18,000 employees. Chief Executive Andy Jassy told the Wall Street Journal:
I really do believe in the devices business. But at the same time, there’s a number of experiments that we were running in that area that we just looked at it and didn’t believe were going to move the needle and be big enough to justify the cost
2. Meta – 11,000
Meta laid off 11,000 employees or 13% of its staff.
I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here. I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted.
–Mark Zuckerberg
3. Salesforce – 7,900
CEO Marc Benioff plans to cut 10% of its over 79,000 employees in 2023. Lack of productivity from new account executives is cited as one of the reasons according to a CNBC article.
4. Hewlett-Packard – 6,000
HP announced that it will be laying off up to 6,000 workers over the next couple of years. HP said it is part of their “Future Ready Transformation plan”.
5. Micron – 4,800
The semiconductor manufacturer Micron missed estimated earnings and revenue for first fiscal quarter of 2023.
In the last several months, we have seen a dramatic drop in demand.
-Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s CEO
This is a new development. Last year there was a chip shortage and now there is decreasing demand.
6. Peloton – 4,600
Peloton had several rounds of layoffs last year mounting to approximately 4,600 total according to an article in the Wall Street Journal: Peloton to Cut 500 More Jobs in Latest Bid for Turnaround
7. Cisco – 4,100
Last month Cisco announced it will be laying off approximately 4,100 employees or 5 % of the company’s workforce. They have already started laying off what will be a total of 5% of its workforce.
8. Carvana – 4,000
Last year Carvana fired 2,500 workers, some via Zoom, as its share price plunged. As the stock price continues to struggle, they will have to lay off an additional 1,500 workers for a total of 4,000.
9. Twitter – 3,700
After Elon Musk took over Twitter, he laid off 3,700 workers. This story will undoubtedly continue to develop as more drama unfolds.
10. Better – 3,500
Online Mortgage Origination platform Better.com laid off 3,000 employees last year as rising interest rates caused a slowdown in new home mortgages and refinances. This was followed by an additional 500 layoffs over the summer.
Conclusion
This list of layoffs is constantly evolving. Many of the articles and sources cited had revised numbers.
Amazon is the biggest, going from 10,000 to 18,000. Salesforce is another recent development up from 1,000 to 7,900.
