From seemingly never-ending supply change issues, lower spending, high gas prices, and a cratering stock market 2022 has been a horrible year for the global economy. Despite the U.S. Dollar being the strongest it’s been in a very long time, the United States hasn’t been impervious to economic issues.
Companies seeing their stock ticker symbols sink while profits shrink are doing their best to cut costs in preparation for uncertain times ahead. They can only restrict travel, freeze hiring, cut benefits, and break leases so much until they have to look at their headcounts to see where they can stay above water.
Tech Layoffs 2022
In particular, the tech industry has suffered as consumer spending and remote work has changed the landscape. From Facebook/Instagram to Peloton to Shopify to Amazon, some of the biggest technology companies have announced layoffs. Here’s a list of the 57 biggest layoffs (by number of people laid off) that have been announced this year. You can also sort by the percentage laid off based on their workforce.
All numbers are approximate based on reported layoffs from available announcements, articles and/or filings.
| Company | Layoff | Month | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon | 20,000 | Dec | 6% |
| Meta | 11,000 | Nov | 13% |
| Better.com | 5,000 | Several | 35% |
| Micron | 4,800 | Dec | 10% |
| Peloton | 4,100 | Feb | 32% |
| Cisco | 4,165 | Nov | 5% |
| Carvana | 4,000 | Nov | 20% |
| 3,700 | Nov | 60% | |
| Cazoo | 3,500 | Jun | 30% |
| GoPuff | 2,200 | Oct | 13% |
| Crypto.com | 2,000 | Oct | 40% |
| Microsoft | 1,800 | Jul | 1% |
| Redfin | 1,310 | Nov | 13% |
| Snapchat | 1,280 | Aug | 20% |
| DoorDash | 1,250 | Nov | 7% |
| Ola | 1,200 | Sept | 40% |
| Robinhood | 1,120 | Aug | 23% |
| Lacework | 1,100 | May | 20% |
| Coinbase | 1,100 | Jun | 18% |
| Noom | 1,095 | April | 10% |
| Stripe | 1,050 | Nov | 14% |
| Salesforce | 1,000 | Nov | 1.3% |
| Shopify | 1,000 | Jul | 10% |
| OneTrust | 950 | Jun | 25% |
| Wayfair | 870 | Aug | 5% |
| Rivian | 840 | Jul | 6% |
| GoHealth | 800 | Aug | 20% |
| Twilio | 800 | Sep | 11% |
| Lyft | 760 | Nov | 13% |
| Reef | 750 | May | 5% |
| Klarna | 700 | Sept | 10% |
| DocuSign | 671 | Sept | 9% |
| Vroom | 670 | Aug | 14% |
| HelloFresh | 611 | Oct | N/A |
| Gannett | 600 | Dec | 6% |
| Opendoor | 550 | Nov | 18% |
| GroupOn | 500 | Aug | 44% |
| Netflix | 450 | May | 2% |
| Hootsuite | 400 | Aug | 30% |
| Cerebral | 400 | Oct | 20% |
| MindBody | 400 | Oct | N/A |
| Juul | 400 | Nov | 30% |
| Pluralsight | 400 | Dec | 20% |
| Zendesk | 350 | Nov | 5% |
| UnAcademy | 350 | Nov | 10% |
| Freshly | 329 | Dec | N/A |
| Zillow | 300 | Oct | 25% |
| Nuro | 300 | Nov | 20% |
| Plaid | 260 | Dec | 20% |
| AirTable | 254 | Dec | 20% |
| Booking.com | 225 | Nov | 25% |
| Oracle | 201 | Dec | >1% |
| Unity | 200 | Jun | 4% |
| Beyond Meat | 200 | Oct | 19% |
| Roku | 200 | Nov | 7% |
| Buzzfeed | 180 | Dec | 12% |
| PolicyGenius | 170 | Jun | 25% |
| Chime | 160 | Nov | 12% |
| Thumbtack | 160 | Dec | 14% |
| Asana | 144 | Nov | 9% |
| GoodRx | 140 | Nov | 16% |
| Upstart | 140 | Nov | 7% |
| Dapper Labs | 135 | Nov | 22% |
| StockX | 120 | Jun | 5% |
| MasterClass | 120 | Jun | 20% |
| TikTok | 100 | July | 1% |
| Patreon | 80 | Sept | 17% |
Companies started to tighten their belts earlier in the year as restructurings and workforce reductions but really accelerated the second half of the year as straight layoffs. Tthe vast majority of the major layoffs from the bigger-name recognizable companies occurring in August and September, but really peaked (so far) in October and November especially with Meta laying off 11,000 of their members and Salesforce – San Francisco’s biggest employer – going through a rare wave of layoffs.
In October and a week into November, Meta, Salesforce, Stripe, GoPuff and Twitter announced layoffs that totaled nearly 20,000 tech employees alone. With continued uncertainty about how the economy will recover this may not be the worst of the layoffs.
What About Google, Amazon and Apple?
The remaining big (HUGE) tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple haven’t announced any large workforce reductions. Google recently released earnings that showed weakness in their business and their CEO is looking to cut costs by 20% that could include layoffs in the future.
* Despite reports of layoffs from Amazon, they’re not confirmed. This may be due to a comment made during their earnings call, the big tech company mentioned that it’s adding jobs at the slowest rate in years. Amazon was relying on natural attrition to shrink its staff across all levels The Mercury News reported that Amazon now has about 100,000 fewer employees than in the previous quarter.
The e-commerce giant’s bottom line is most directly connected to consumer spending, so if the populace is being laid off and anxious about their money, it’s a matter of time before Amazon has to respond to ensure their viability and profits. Update: Amazon announces biggest layoffs.
Apple seems to be the best positioned to make it out of this mostly intact though Apple can certainly expect to see fewer people upgrading their $1000 iPhones in a recession.
If all the different economic factors continue trending downward, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear these larger companies announcing layoffs.
Thanks to Protocol and Layoffs.FYI for the all the great research they’ve done chronicling (and doing the math) on the tech layoffs this year. Highly recommend checking out their comprehensive coverage.
