Though technology companies announced massive layoffs last year, 2023 has been much worse. Layoffs have far outpaced last year's cuts, as tech giants including Amazon, Facebook parent company Meta, Microsoft, Google, IBM, SAP, and Salesforce — as well as many smaller companies — announce sweeping job cuts.
The problem: Big Tech went on a hiring binge during the pandemic when lockdowns sparked a tech buying spree to support remote work and an uptick in e-commerce, and now they face revenue declines.
Although global IT spending is forecast to rise in 2023, with enterprise software and IT services experiencing the greatest growth, the overall increase is expected to be modest, with data center systems and communications services growing by less than 1%, according to market research firm Gartner. Meanwhile hardware sales are forecast to decline.
Continuing supply chain issues, inflation, and the war in Ukraine are also having an impact on both business and consumer spending, leading to fears of recession.
According to data compiled by Layoffs.fyi, the online tracker keeping tabs on job losses in the technology sector, 784 tech companies have laid off about 208,181 staff so far this year, compared to 164,411 layoffs last year.
Here is a list — to be updated regularly — of some of the most prominent technology layoffs the industry has experienced recently.
July 2023
July 8: Evernote lays off US, Chile staff as it moves to Europe
Evernote, the maker of the note-taking app of the same name, is laying off most of its staff in the US and Chile and moving to Italy, the home of its corporate parent, Bending Spoons. "Going forward, a dedicated (and growing) team based in Europe will continue to assume ownership of the Evernote product," company CEO Francesco Patarnello said in a message to employees. He did not specify the number of staff to be laid off, but said that affected employees in most cases will receive 16 weeks of salary, up to one year of health insurance coverage, and a performance bonus. Bending Spoons, which acquired Evernote in November last year, had enacted a round of layoffs in February that affected more than 100 employees.