Layoffs at tech companies seemed to have taken a breather in mid-2023, but it appears it was nothing more than the calm before the storm.
The year began with more than 100,000 layoffs for all of Silicon Valley’s large technology companies, but little by little the pace slowed until it settled at a level that could be considered normal. The poor economic results expected for the fourth quarter and the adjustments for 2024 mean that many technology companies have reactivated workforce adjustment plans, once again laying off hundreds of employees. Google is among those that continues to confirm declines in the coming months.
The trickle of layoffs from Google. Just two months ago Google announced a staff cut that mainly affected its human resources department since, as the company itself confessed through its representative Brian Ong, “Unfortunately we need to make a significant reduction in the size of the company.” recruiting organization.
Now, the company has decided to let go of around twenty data scientists in its voice assistant division, according to sources. This is Google’s third round of layoffs so far this year after reducing its recruiting staff and layoffs on the Google News team.
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving division, has already had three rounds of layoffs so far this year, reducing this division’s 2,500 employees by up to 10%.
Informatica, the Silicon Valley cloud is not spared either. Cloud data company Informatica is also not immune to layoffs, and on Wednesday announced the layoff of 10% of its workforce following poor financial results in the third quarter.
The measure affects about 545 employees and seeks cost savings in 2024 of 70 million dollars and between 35 and 45 million in expenses. The company has already announced the first 90 layoffs, which will be carried out before December 31 for employees at its headquarters in Redwood City. This would be the second round of layoffs in 2023 for the company, which shed 407 employees at the beginning of the year and posted net income of $79.2 million in the third quarter of the year.
Faire has lasted a year without firing anyone. The e-commerce platform Faire is facing its second round of layoffs after reducing its workforce by 7% just a year ago. According to Insider, Faire will be somewhat more expeditious this time, laying off 20% of its staff with a total of 250 new layoffs.
The platform has been valued at 12.5 billion dollars and during the year it has accumulated 416 million in profits.
Viasat puts its feet on the ground and fires 10% of its staff. The satellite communications company Viasat has not been spared from workforce cuts in 2023, announcing in a statement the dismissal of 800 employees, which represents 10% of its current workforce. In this way, the company intensifies the cuts it already made in April with the dismissal of 300 employees.
Again, poor economic forecasts lead the company to contract its infrastructure in order to save up to 100 million dollars until 2025.
Splunk reduces its workforce before its merger. The cybersecurity company Splunk has been the latest to announce that it joins the increasingly large club of companies that are laying off employees in Silicon Valley with a 7% cut in its workforce before formalizing its merger with the giant Cisco.
The layoff plan affects 537 employees and will mark the second round of layoffs of the year. Splunk had laid off 325 employees in February. “The changes we are announcing are not the result of our agreement with Cisco; they are a continuation of the important initiatives we have undertaken at Splunk for more than a year to align our resources and operational structure to deliver continuous and incremental value to our customers” said Gary Steele, president and CEO of Splunk.
