Tech layoffs: Amazon, Meta may announce more job cuts this week

Amidst the global macroeconomic uncertainties, the layoffs by global tech giants continue. Amazon and Meta have reportedly announced another round of layoffs in an effort to streamline operations this week.

Amazon confirmed the news of layoffs across its advertising division with CNBC. Though the e-commerce behemoth did not reveal the number of employees that will be impacted, the company, however, said that the new round of layoffs will be in its advertising division across the U.S. and Canada. Last month, the ecommerce giant announced that the company will be trimming 9,000 more positions in the next few weeks,  mostly in AWS, PXT, Advertising, and Twitch. In January, the company announced laying off 18,000 employees. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that the overriding tenet of Amazon's annual planning this year was to be "leaner" while doing so in a way that enables it to invest robustly in key long-term customer experiences. The company also said that layoffs are a part of "re-prioritisation decisions" that sometimes "led to role reductions, sometimes led to moving people from one initiative to another, and sometimes led to new openings where we don’t have the right skills match from our existing team members".

Meanwhile, Meta Platforms Inc, which has already trimmed 13% or 11,000 jobs of its workforce, is also planning to announce job cuts in Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Reality Labs this week, according to news agency Bloomberg. The development comes days after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced another round of mass layoffs in which 10,000 people will be affected, last month. Zuckerberg had said over the next couple of months, the company leaders will announce restructuring plans focused on flattening the organisation, cancelling lower-priority projects, and reducing hiring rates. As of November 8, 2022, the company had 87,000 employees globally.

Since the second half of CY2022, tech organisations globally have announced laying off thousands of employees in an effort to reduce costs and streamline operations. Last month, US-based IT major Accenture announced to lay off 19,000 employees, or 2.5% of its global workforce, over the next 18 months as the company looks forward to streamlining operations. Google recently sacked around 12,000 roles in one of the highest headcount reductions in the past year. Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai said despite periods of dramatic growth, the company was now faced with a "different economic reality", forcing it to launch massive job cuts. Microblogging platform Twitter sacked 50% of its workforce and is planning to slash its workforce further. Snap, the parent company of the social media platform Snapchat, sacked 20% of its staff. There are dozens of other tech and non-tech companies that have resorted to brutal layoffs amid the global downturn.