Top 10 tech layoffs by number of employees so far in 2022

The year 2022 has been a very dramatic one for the tech industry, with the collapse of one of the main cryptocurrency exchanges (FTX) and the massive layoffs at leading international tech firms. The phrase “year of the layoffs” could be used to characterize it.

138,012 employees were laid off by 861 tech companies this year, according to statistics made accessible to RNNs. On November 27, 2022, this sum was current.

Sadly, industry analysts who predicted additional positions will be cut in Q1 2023 believe the layoffs may have just started.

Tech firms in Nigeria have not been shielded from the wind either. Although IT layoffs in Nigeria have not been in the news, many tech companies there are reportedly quietly cutting their workforce sizes.

Quidax is one of the most recent Nigerian tech firms to attempt this. The Nigerian cryptocurrency exchange stated last week that 25% of its staff would be laid off, blaming the effects of the global economic crisis for the decision. According to the 84 employees who have registered for the company on its LinkedIn page, this indicates that the company will be firing about 20 of its employees.

Kuda, a Nigerian digital bank, had also let 23 employees go earlier in September. That number, according to the business, accounts for 5% of its 450 employees. Analysts say that many tech companies overhired during the COVID-19 period when tech income skyrocketed and that it is now necessary to make a correction. This is in addition to the economic crisis.

While the number of layoffs by tech companies in Nigeria may not rank in the top 10 worldwide, the number of businesses in the nation making headcount reductions is growing daily.

READ MORE: Quidax Exchange lays off 25% of its staff

The top 10 layoffs announced thus far this year by major worldwide tech organizations are listed below:

1. Meta (11,000): This year’s biggest layoffs by a single company occurred at Meta, which fired 11,000 workers all at once. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta Meta, who announced the decision in early November, stated that this accounted for 13% of the company’s workforce. Additionally, Meta disclosed that it would reduce discretionary spending and extend its hiring moratorium through Q1 2023, delaying any hiring until after the specified time frame. In a letter to Met’s employees that was posted in the Meta Newsroom, Zuckerberg stated that the company is also implementing other cost-cutting measures in addition to the layoffs. He made a suggestion that the business had started COVID-19 with excessive investment and was now working to fix it.
2. Twitter (3,700): Elon Musk unexpectedly announced the layoffs of some 3,700 Twitter employees not long after finalizing his $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform in late October. This amounted to about half of the total number of employees at the time.

   Employees were given a three-month severance package, according to Musk, who added that there had “no choice” but to fire them. He said that because of its sizable workforce, Twitter was losing more than $4 million every single day. He did, however, point out that 3 months of severance pay—50% more than what the law required—was paid to everyone affected by the layoffs. While offering his condolences to the Twitter employees affected by the layoffs, co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey also acknowledged hiring too many people and that he “expanded the company too quickly.”

3. Byju’s (2,500): In an effort to strengthen its finances and achieve profitability by the end of the current financial year, Indian edtech giant Byju’s announced in early October that it would cut its marketing budget and eliminate 5% of its workforce, or about 2,500 roles, across multiple departments.

   This was the startup’s second significant layoff in recent months, with a $22 billion valuation. It eliminated hundreds of positions in June. The decision was made in the midst of the ongoing global economic crisis, which pushed many businesses, including Byju’s, to delay their ambitions to register for an IPO.

4. Snap (1,280): In August of this year, Snap, the company that created the transient messaging program Snapchat, lay off 20% of its workforce and canceled at least six products. Nearly 1,280 of Snap’s 6,400 employees were impacted, according to the business.

   Along with shuttering its social mapping app Zenly, music-making app Voisey, gear including its Pixy drone camera, and its division that produced exclusive short shows with celebrities and other influencers, Snap also shut down its division that generated these projects.

   During the pandemic, Snap actively hired, just like its other tech competitors. It had about 3,427 full-time employees as of March 2020, and as of the conclusion of the most recent quarter, it had 6,446, a 38% growth over the same period in 2019.

5. Stripe (1,120): In what it called the “hardest transition” the firm had ever undergone, the American fintech behemoth Stripe revealed in early November that it would be laying off 14% of its workers. Of the 8,000 employees of the fintech company, around 1,120 were let go as a result.

   CEO of Stripe Patrick Collison stated in a memo posted on the company’s website that personnel reduction became necessary in order for the business to reduce costs. He claimed that difficult economic circumstances, including “stubborn inflation, energy shocks, higher interest rates, smaller investment budgets, and sparser startup funding,” rendered the decision inevitable. Stripe, which paid $200 million to acquire Paystack, a Nigerian fintech company, in 2020, claimed it had employed too many people for the situation.

6. Coinbase (1,100): As part of a cost-cutting strategy, Coinbase Global let go of about 1,100 workers in June. The business initially declared in May that it would scale back its employment goals before subsequently announcing that it would revoke further job offers. Brian Armstrong, the CEO and co-founder of Coinbase attributed the company’s decision to make these significant changes to an anticipated “crypto winter” and the impending U.S. recession.

   But he also acknowledged that the business has expanded too quickly. Last year, the first significant bitcoin startup, Coinbase, went public. While we made every effort to get this just right, Armstrong stated, “In this situation, it is clearly evident to me that we over-hired.”

7. Shopify (1,000): The e-commerce behemoth lay off about 1,000 employees in July or about 10% of its whole workforce. CEO Tobi Lutke stated in a memo to staff that he had underestimated how long the pandemic-driven e-commerce boom would persist and that Shopify will take action to reduce some positions in light of a general decline in online expenditure.

   As of December 31, 2021, Shopify had over 10,000 employees, according to a securities filing. Lutke acknowledged that the firm had overhired, but said that Shopify had overstaffed in anticipation of what it believed would be a prolonged shift to e-commerce. Shopify had wagered that the ratio of online expenditure to in-store commerce would “permanently leap ahead by 5 or even 10 years.” It is now obvious that the wager was a loss, according to Lutke.

8. Microsoft (1000): Throughout multiple divisions, Microsoft lay off about 1,000 workers in October. Less than 1% of Microsoft’s 221,000-person workforce as of June 30 were affected by the layoffs.

   “Like other businesses, we continually review our business priorities and change our structural priorities as necessary. In the coming year, we will continue to make investments in our company and hire in strategic growth areas, according to a Microsoft representative.

9. Salesforce (about 1000): In November, the developer of corporate software, Salesforce, also acknowledged that it had let go of hundreds of workers. Although the corporation withheld the precise number, reports citing insiders stated that the company let go of about 1,000 people.

   The corporation employed 73,541 people as of the end of January this year. In an August filing, Salesforce stated that the increase in staff was made “to accommodate the growing demand for services from our clients.” The corporation said that the employee reduction was necessary due to some nations’ and industries’ decreased demand.

10. Lyft (683): Early in November, the ride-hailing business Lyft announced it was laying off 683 people, or 13% of its staff, in an effort to cut operational costs. In order to “be set up to expedite execution and generate outstanding business outcomes in Q4 of 2022 and 2023,” the company defined the cuts as a proactive measure.

    A few months before the news, Lyft had stopped hiring, fired roughly 60 individuals, and discontinued its in-house vehicle rental operation. All U.S. departments were affected by the employment freeze, which began in August and is anticipated to continue into the following year as the ride-hailing behemoth deals with ongoing economic uncertainty.